Storytime at Brooklyn House
by Shadow Priesstes
Summary: Due to a failed prank by Horus the peace discissions between the Egyptian and Greco-Roman Pantheons needed to be speed up so the adventures of both sides got made into books which of course must be first read-over to see if they are right. The only problem is that no one expected unplanned guests falling in, literally.
1. Okay, whose idea of joke was this?

A/N: so with my internet refusing to work I had time to read some of the books in my little library and re-watch the Patalliro! episodes I managed to download before I could not log in anymore the results were the following:

Finished reading _**"The call of Cthulhu" **_or however that name gets spelled out

Got up with a long story plan for Pattaliro and seeing how the other site I'm on has got a section for this and I an account up there I finished the starting chapter for that story

Got to fully revise my first original novel _"__**La Carneval Noire"**_ a 92 pages and XIII chapter's long story in World documents, the table of contents not included with a few sketches by me. I cleared out some residual mistakes and added a couple more sentences to the story and now sent it to the third publishing challenge

Got an idea for a SECOND novel which will have the title _"__**Past the Crimson Shores",**_ this story unlike my Carneval will not be a crime/mystery, but an adventure/sci-fi, I will start typing probably on Sunday because I'm requested on a party by a friend who wants to celebrate the coming out of a book he had translated

I got through the Kane Chronicles books and as I worked on new one-shot ideas well this come up

P.S.: the fic with more details about how a certain incident mentioned in this fic happened (and there may be some references to my two other KC one-shots) will be done also soon, the plans are ready since a while, but I had no time to get it done also I apologize if people find characters OOC or some facts. Those facts if they should have gotten too twisted are _needed _for the story. Also those who read my two PJO reading series I will continue them, but in the case of _"The fate in our hands" _is my mind a bit stuck on happenings and reactions by the MARK OF ATHENA and it is not easy pulling it back to the Lightning Thief, but after I manage that I will continue as for the other one I'm planning what should happen next.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Kane Chronicles the rights and idea belongs to Rick Riordan who is doing a great job with his books, other characters belong to the people of Egypt I have minimal rights for the plot and of course the OCs are mine, but that is all. **Also I would like to remind everyone that if you don't like what you read then don't waste my time with complaining and I'm sure that some **_**will**_** ignore this part the moment they spot the above mentioned incident and the consequences.** **Really, I have also come around fics that started fine, but then turned into something I didn't like, what did I do? Just closed the page and left it like that and don't complained to the author. **Beside that it is now kind of really clear that my German teacher in the University was right as are some of my friends that I have a slight disgraphia so sorry for some mistakes.

* * *

I. Okay, whose idea of joke was this?

It had been a peaceful day at Brooklyn House, the first in the past month mind you, one could not even notice that the whole interior needed to be redone after a group of magicians, under them the Pharaoh himself, five Gods – one of them wearing only a crimson cloak and matching coloured lingerie -, a bunch of penguins and a baboon had been chasing a poor and deadly frightened mouse around the whole building for three full days.

Let's just say that Horus's new prank idea to make Set unknowingly consume a potion which would make him speak like a frog for the reminder of the week had backfired in an extreme way. That of course made the contract discussions with the Gods in Manhattan even more deep going and faster then either side had intended to when the Egyptian Pantheon returned five years after they left.

"So, does anyone know why we were all told to gather up here?" Sadie asked her brother expectantly as the two of them stood in front of the stairs leading up to the attic of Brooklyn House.

"I don't know, Horus is unfortunately not one who tends to elaborate things better if you get confused." Carter told his sister with a sigh, it had also not helped that he had at that time been busy making out with Zia when Horus just popped in and the two needed to separate. He kind of regretted that he didn't let his girlfriend grill the God who was again using a pigeon as temporal host.

"We should go up and then we might know more." suggested Cleo, she had over the past five years since the war against Apophis gotten somewhat over her shyness or as Sadie suspected it had much to do with her boyfriend Leonid who was standing beside her, they got together during their English classes which was both geeky and cute.

"Agreed." Jaz said happily as she looked over at the rest of the gathered group, Zia was holding Carter's hand as was Walt doing by Sadie, when the Gods returned had Thoth found a cure for Walt and he was now not always dependant on Anubis, Felix, Sean, Alyssa, Julian and Shelby were also nodding, their curiosity was going overboard, the rest of the initiates had been sent on a study trip for two weeks.

"Well then, let's find out." Sadie said in a determined tone as they walked up the steps and pushed the lid leading to the attic up.

Upstairs the group found themselves inside a large open space, the roof windows lit up the attic room with natural light. There were many old artefacts, trunks and boxes placed like strange pyramid constructions into one farther side of the space while somewhat farther from the door they saw two long couches, two smaller sofas, a sitting matt, a loveseat, two armchairs and what was the most disturbing seven thrones which's symbolism certainly gave them a good guess whom each of them belonged to. The moment the last of them had entered the attic there was a sudden flash of light and the thrones got into the possession of their intended owner.

"Dad, what is happening here?" Carter asked when he spotted Osiris, but it was Thoth who answered.

"Well, you see due to that failed prank idea" Thoth started with a nervous grin while on his right Horus flinched when Nephthys kicked him in the shin.

"A spectacously backfired prank." come an angry female voice from one of the longer couches where Amos was sitting beside a beautiful looking red haired woman in a crimson coloured dress which perfectly matched the red suit the Chief Lector was wearing, though today was he lacking the leopardfurr cape.

"Yes it certainly did and well, you know that we needed to hasten the discussions with the Greco-Roman Pantheon, so I met up with Athena and we had this idea how to help things go further." Thoth said before pulling out three books from his bag. "We decided that we will let everyone read the other group's adventures, it will give those on the other side an insight into what the House of Life is and what the magicians can do and you all went through while their stories will show you the life of a demigod and give you a better understanding for them and what we may expect in some months." the blonde God finished as Horus got another kick while Tawaret stood up from her spot and walked over to the sitting pair and placed her hand on the woman's belly.

"It will be a good idea, if my calculations are correct will we need a good deal of knowledge about this situation in three months." the hippo like Goddess said gently as she took her hand away from the woman to whom she had become a type of chaperone, whenever she was without someone who knew what to do if there should be complications.

"There is at least this." the woman said with an annoyed huff while resting her head on Amos's shoulder which resulted in a new kick for Horus, Anubis to look lost about how to feel while Isis looked apologetically at her annoyed looking little sister, Osiris only had a small smile on his lips together with his host Julius.

"What do you mean our adventures?" Sadie asked while giving Anubis a glare, they may not be dating anymore, but she still had some powers over that guy.

"Your recordings were by the Muses turned into three books as were the adventures of the demigods, though while we have only three we need to read to make sure that nothing was left out are their books ten in number so the reading of those had already started last week." Anubis said carefully, glad that he could turn away his gaze from the duo on the couch because he still didn't know how he felt about the whole situation his idiotic cousin had caused to happen.

"Ugh…you tell us that soon there will be a bunch of Gods and their kids reading about our adventures?" Sadie asked with slight horror now that she knew that Drew and Lacy with whom she was going to school with were actually demigods and half-sisters. A scary thought being related to Drew, she always knew that Lacy was brave.

"Yes, so take now a seat everyone so that we can start." Horus said in hopes to stop his aunt, once sister, in her assaults against his poor leg. Really, he didn't even understand what her problem was in the first place, but she had been like this since Set had officially set her free from their bond, or in the speaking terms of the mortals divorced from her.

The younger members of the group immediately made a race for the sitting mat which got pretty fast occupied by Felix, Sean, Alyssa and Shelby. Cleo and Leonid managed to get the rights for the loveseat and were sitting comfortably together, Julian and Jaz sat down on one of the shorter sofas while the Kane siblings and their respective partners took seat on the couch beside Amos. When all were seated was Thoth about to ask who wants to read first when there was suddenly a flash of light and two separated groups landed almost on the ground, but luckily had a few people blocked their fall with wind, sand and the 'pillow' spell.

When the light dimmed on the other hand and they all got a good glimpse on the unplanned visitors a good deal of jaws dropped. This was understandable seeing how at least four members of one of the groups should be dead since a good few thousand of years, their features didn't even need to be looked upon because one glance and it didn't take long for people to recogrinaise that they were in the presence of the ancient pharaohs Narmer, Ramses the Great and Hatshepsut the fourth person had many similarities with Narmer so they must have been siblings. The other group caused also some shock seeing that it consisted from the Kane siblings grandparents the Fausts, their father and uncle looking much younger, their mother who seemed to be pregnant, another pair who made Zia grip Carter's hand tighter telling him that those two may be her parents and the last two were the two past Chief Lectors Iskander and Michel Desjardins, both looking shocked by the sight of the Gods sitting with magicians. There was some shocked silence before Narmer stood up and spotted Horus.

"What is the ground that you had summoned me and Ashkender here?" he asked Hours and seemed to miss the flinch passing over the present Gods faces unlike the people of the present who wondered if something bad had happened to the other man.

"We don't know, neither of us had summoned you." Horus answered as he was attempting to not look in the direction of the pharaoh's brother or the woman in red who had stood up from her seat and made her way across the room.

"What do you mean? Could this be the work of some evil force which tires to still crush us in revenge for uniting Egypt?" Narmer asked in a dark tone not noticing the nearing woman, but then the man on his side spoke up.

"Brother, you are acting paranoid if it had been an evil force brining us here then none of the other Gods would be present, as for the revenge, I told you that I could mend the drift which had been caused." the man spoke defiantly as he tried to touch his brother's arm, but it was shrugged away.

"Your plan is to join the priests of Set, I wont allow such a deed from a member of the house serving the God Hours, mostly not my younger brother, if needed I will do anything to make you give up on this foolish plan." Narmer snapped and the Gods flinched again making the other guests have a dark guess that the pharaoh in his idea to protect his brother had done something drastic which neither of them wanted to know. Fighting those thoughts was even worse for Carter and Sadie who saw the frightening parallel between their ancestor's younger brother and their uncle who had a pained look on his face indicating that he knew what happened in the past.

"Oh, I'm sure about that one, most followers of that Bird Brain " Horus certainly looked annoyed" tend to be narrow sighted with some refreshing exceptions "Carter and Julian were not sure if they just received an insult or a compliment ", but this is unfortunately not why we are here and as you were told neither of us knows how you got here so sit down and let us proceed, after that Thoth will try to find a way to send you back." growled the woman dressed in red as she stood only a step away from Narmer who at first looked stunned that a woman would dare using such a tone with him, but then his eyes took in the colour of her hair and that of her strange dress and his face morphed into a scowl.

"I don't take orders from a woman who serves that unclean creature." he said and most occupants of the room were ready to step in before blood would be spilled, but luckily had Amos reached the pair and gently grabbed the woman's arms, much to his younger selves shock, and started pulling her away.

"Stop it, you know that it has no use and you are stressing yourself unnecessarily seeing how the books will be already doing the job for you." he said in a gentle tone at which the woman let out and angry huff and with a last dark look towards the pharaoh let herself be lead back to the couch while some people of the present looked together, Amos's skills still stunned them sometimes.

"I think you still should follow the suggestion pharaoh Narmer." spoke up a new female voice when turning around the pharaoh found himself face to face with another woman whom this time was dressed in the robes of the pharaohs, his brother and the other man in similar robes had already sat down on one of those strange seating constructions.

After the old rulers were seated as were their other guest, the Fausts took the chairs while the rest the remaining larger couch thought before anyone could ask anything mostly, how some people are doubled here a note appeared in front of Isis who picked it up.

"This note come from our allies who seem to have experienced the same strange light and visit from the past." she said in a stunned tone as she read over it.

"So it was not another joke from Horus going terribly wrong?" Nephthys asked testily, she was still angry at her nephew, once older brother, for destroying all her chances to get her ex-husband to give her a third chance, was it really so hard to see that a part of her actually loved him?

"Why do you think that this could be my fault?" Horus demanded, but was faced with raised eyebrows and some inkling their heads to the side in a certain direction.

"Because one of your jokes resulted in him." the woman in red said while pointing at a squirming Thoth.

"I try to not think about it." he said while Anubis shook his head hastily, he also liked to ignore that story.

"And another of your brilliant prank ideas resulted in your uncle/brother getting a speed gender change at the worst of times possible and ending knocked up by our uncle." Sadie elaborated while those who didn't know the situation looked at her with wide eyes, after turning away from a squirming Horus who was glared on by both his mother and aunt.

"Sadie, you say it as if either of us were coherent in our head when that happened." come it from the duo dressed in red at the end of the couch making everyone snap their heads into their direction. Ruby looked stuck between looking shocked and giving her brother-in-law a hug in delight, Julius kind of looked unsure seeing how he pressed his brother to start a family, but he didn't have such and extreme way in mind while said brother's younger version looked about to faint.

"Uh…his uncle…" Mr. Faust asked, his wife had told him some things about her family history, but sitting here and actually seeing all this weird stuff was a bit much to take in.

"Lord Set?" asked suddenly Ashkender having put together who the woman in red was and seeing how the man who had lead her back was also dressed in the colour of chaos was he probably one of his priests from this time, it kind of shocked him to see the God he decided to follow turned into a female and expecting the child of her priest.

"WHAT!" screamed a good deal of the guest in shock and some in fear, younger Amos also nearly fell from the couch and gave his brother a dark look as if asking him; _'It was your idea that I get a family!' _There were even some who looked ready to use the Ribbons of Hathor if needed.

"Oh, please sit back on your places; these reactions are starting to get annoying after the first time we told them." Set grumbled while giving Amos and accusing look. "You wanted to tell the whole family not me, I was fine with only a few knowing." he or now she said to the man beside her.

"I know, but it would have been hard to keep secret, you know how Sadie can't stand secrets "at this said girl blushed "this was the only way to keep them all still." Amos told the annoyed looking God in a calm tone surprising those who didn't know about the fact that he was not only following the Path of Set, but was also his Eye and the Keeper of his Names.

"Fine, but there was still no need to put me on a maternity leave." she said feeling annoyed that Ra wanted her till the baby is born to not guard him on his nightly journeys or he would now be by him and Bast making the boat ready for their trip in three hours.

"So, you two are having a baby?" Ruby asked finally at which the duo nodded and the younger Amos almost choked, he was still in a type of shock which was slowly slipping over into denial.

"This is pre…" but before Desjardins could continue Iskander spoke up.

"We should hear what stands in that note and then we may know why we are here and who those around us are we don't know." said the old Chief Lector, he was also shocked by the revelation they had got a few minutes ago, but he had also seen the control Amos seemed to posses over the Red Lord, something which only Ra had ever managed and he wondered what this meant for them all together with the presence of the other Gods.

"It doesn't say much, only that those responsible for fate had received a message and thus granted some people from the past a chance to not only see the future, but also other things, but to whom which role belongs they will need to find out on their own. It says that some are here to learn to know family because some things are fated to happen and can't be changed, some are here to make them realize things they had refused to see in the past, others to help finding the right path, but why that is will be keep a secret." Isis finished explaining.

"Well then, I think we should start some introductions to those who don't know who the others are, but leave it to the minimum of the names so that we don't give away spoilers." Tawaret said as she walked over to where Ruby and Rachel sat looking a bit suspiciously at the nearing hippo Goddess. "Don't worry dears, I only want to put a protective charm on your wombs seeing how these books will have some stressful parts and I don't wish either of the babies to come to harm." she explained in a gentle tone so that both mothers agreed much to the protest of their husbands even thought they knew who the Goddess was.

"That is fine, I think it will be easier if we don't give to much away." Amos spoke up as he threw a glance at this brother to not say a word and let Osiris be on the surface to hide who he is. "I'm as a few of our visitors already know Amos Kane." he said as he ignored the scowl of his ancestor while still acknowledging the man sitting beside the king.

"I'm Sadie Kane and this is my older brother Carter." Sadie said drawing Ruby's attention to her, she had noted that the two of them looked alike and the boy not far from her looked just like Julius.

"You are my children?" she asked to make sure.

"Yep, you are currently carrying Carter around I will come later on." Sadie said happily it will be nice to have her mum here, even if younger and pregnant, it was still great that she could touch her unlike her ghost.

"Wonderful." Ruby said as she leaned against a gapping Julius who tried to also avoid the look his father-in-law was giving him.

"I'm Walt Stone one of the initiates here at Brooklyn House and also the lieutenant of our Nome." Walt said while Sadie leaned against him which made the younger self of her father narrow his eyes at them.

"I'm Zia Rashid my title will be in the books." Zia said as she felt her old teacher smile at her warmly, she knew that he was happy that she was well while her parents gapped at her in shock.

"You are our child?" her father asked in shock, his wife was only in the fourth month of her pregnancy so knowing that they will have a healthy girl was more then a blessing for them.

"Yes, I am father." Zia replied with a warm smile, it felt wonderful saying those words and watching her father wrap his arms proudly around her mother who had tears in her eyes made it even better.

"We are also initiates of Brooklyn House" spoke us Jaz who decided to introduce the others of their group to make things go faster "I'm Jaz and this beside me is Julian, those on the loveseat are Cleo and Leonid while those on the mat are Felix, Sean, Ashley and Shelby." she finished.

"Then it is our turn which may be shorter seeing that Amos does not need to introduce himself again. I'm Ruby Kane and this is my husband Julius and my parents are sitting on the two chairs." Ruby said happily, she was excited to meet her children.

"I'm the current Chief Lector of he First Nome of the House of Life, Iskander and this beside me is Michel Desjardins." finished the old man turning to the last pair on their couch.

"I'm Amir Rashid and this is my wife Rachel." this only left one group.

"The names of two of us have already been spoken and I doubt that from the last two of us would one forget that name of pharaoh Narmer." spoke the woman who had first spoken after Set had been made to sit down again. "My name is Hatshepsut one of the few female pharaohs of Egypt." she finished turning to the last man who regarded her with interest.

"I'm pharaoh Ramses the Second." he said which made Mr. Faust look at both his wife and daughter remembering them telling him that they were descendants of a pharaoh with that name.

"Now that we are done with that is it high time that we start to read to see if everything is in place before we send it over to our allies." Thoth said gleefully as she held the book up again.

"So who wants to start?" he asked excitedly.

"What are these books about?" Ashkender asked curiously.

"They are about the start of the new age we currently live in." Cleo explained to the man who nodded to her before turning back to the God.

"I would not mind to read." he offered and Thoth let the book float over, it had a charm to turn into the language the reader understands the best so there should be no problem. "The title is _**The Red Pyramid**_." some flinched at this while others looked over at Set.

"You can stop that, the happenings in that book were only partly his fault, others had just as large roles in that chaos." Amos spoke up, he had once listened to this recording and with things being calmer around him had he time to analyze the whole line of happenings which made him come to this conclusion. Ashkender got the message and hurried on reading before anyone could comment, but from the corner of his eyes could he see the God in red give a small smile to the other.

"It seems to be in Carter's view." he said at which the siblings glared at Thoth.

"It was made out of a voice recording so it will switch between the siblings." the God said as the duo buried their faces in the necks of their respective partners which made two fathers narrow their eyes while they wives only rolled their eyes while making plans to chat with their daughters.

_**A Death at the Needle**_

Those who knew what the title meant flinched while the others looked uneasy.

_**WE ONLY HAVE A FEW HOURS, so listen carefully.**_

_**If you're hearing this story, you're already in danger. Sadie and I might be your only chance.**_

The siblings continued to hide their faces in the necks of their partners as everyone turned in their direction, they initiates only smiled at the memory about how this start had made them only even more eager to hear, it was like in a crime or spy movie.

"And you think that I'm dramatic?" Set whispered to Amos who only gave back a small smirk.

"I never said that the Kanes weren't also dramatic." he whispered back in amusement while ignoring the unbelieving look his younger self was giving them, he kind of felt sorry for himself seeing what will be coming his way, but he will be fine.

_**Go to the school. Find the locker. I won't tell you which school or which locker, because if you're the right person, you'll find it. The combination is 13/32/33. By the time you finish listening, you'll know what those numbers mean.**_

Everyone from the present nodded in understanding.

"You wont tell us what the numbers mean am I right?" Ruby asked, she had always been curious and somewhat impatient.

"Sorry, but we can't." Jaz said seeing how their two leaders were still busy being embarrassed.

_**Just remember the story we're about to tell you isn't complete yet. How it ends will depend on you. The most important thing: when you open the package and find what's inside, don't keep it longer than a week. Sure, it'll be tempting. I mean, it will grant you almost unlimited power. But if you possess it too long, it will consume you. Learn its secrets quickly and pass it on. Hide it for the next person, the way Sadie and I did for you. Then be prepared for your life to get very interesting.**_

"Now that is an understatement if I have heard one." Walt said grinning down at his girlfriend, it was better then paying attention to the younger version of her father who was giving him a dark look, and at least had his present side accepted the relationship. You don't want to get on the bad side of a person who is hosting Osiris.

_**Okay, Sadie is telling me to stop stalling and get on with the story. Fine. I guess it started in London, the night our dad blew up the British Museum.**_

At this looked the four past nobles with confusion at each other while those a bit further from the future turned with blinking eyes and raised eyebrows to a blushing Julius Kane.

"Darling, did our son just say that you blew up the British Museum?" Ruby asked in a sweet tone which made her husband squirm in his seat while by the thrones was the older Julius having a mental talk with Osiris about how frightening she could be when she did that.

"A wonderful example." Mrs. Faust said while shaking her head, but she knew that her daughter had unfortunately inherited her stubbornness.

"Erm…" was the most intelligent thing Julius could get out.

"I don't even want to know why you did that." Desjardins said while shaking his head, the Kanes were never normal in his option and it seems he got proven right not only with this blowing up a museum thing, but he got a good guess why the Gods mostly the Demon Days are present. Not ignoring the fact that Amos was not only following the God of Chaos, but also had…he will not think about that no matter how that being looked in the current moment.

"And you gave me a lecture for almost burning down the kitchen?" the younger Amos asked while the initiates together with the siblings turned to their uncle who decided to follow his nephew's and niece's former example and hide his face in Set's hair who looked amused as she remembered seeing that memory.

"It was his first attempt at making grilled lamb when he was fifteen." Set elaborated with a small laugh making the younger magicians nod in understanding while Amos gave a small glare to the God as he looked up from his hiding place, no one noticed Horus's yelp in the background. "What, they wanted to know and you didn't look as if you would elaborate." was her only answer to the man who returned to his hiding seeing that he was currently avoiding his younger selves slightly panicked gaze, Narmer and Desjardins were easier to ignore. Really, they were overreacting the whole situation and it was not like that they were the ones with a God turned Goddess with both claustrophobia and mayor abandonment issues, who also happens to be carrying your child which you created without remembering how, he kind of got a whiteout since meeting Set's new form in the museum.

"I think you should continue." Thoth suggested to the prince who nodded in understanding.

_**My name is Carter Kane. I'm fourteen and my home is a suitcase.**_

"I should explain in the next sentence." Carter said hurriedly when everyone was starting to look at his dad again; the man only gave his son a thankful smile.

_**You think I'm kidding? Since I was eight years old, my dad and I have traveled the world.**_

This relaxed both Ruby and her parents.

_**I was born in L.A.**_

"Oh, the irony." Set said while her amber coloured eyes, like the colour of desert sand, flickered for a few seconds to her brother who was suppressing a smile.

"Why is that?" Ruby asked not understanding what was ironic about living in Los Angeles, she liked it there.

"You see at the current time we are building an alliance with other Gods who have followed the Flame of the Western Civilization here." Carter started to explain, he decided to let his uncle be somewhat free from responsibilities as best as it is possible seeing how he has enough to do.

"Which Gods?" asked both Ramses and Hatshepsut seeing that it was more around their times that there were other people invading who followed foregain Gods or heard about them from travellers.

"The Greco-Roman Gods, technically it is mostly a good thing seeing how they have a good deal of demigod children, half-mortal and half-god, so we may face less shock when Set has the baby" there were some nods and a small yelp "we are actually doing this reading to check if the happenings in the book got written down accurately before we send them over, they are doing the same with their books which will be more then our three. Thoth, are you sure that they have ten books?" Carter asked the God suddenly.

"Yes I saw them, five-five books showing the up leading and happenings of both wars, but as said I only saw them for a few seconds and only got to read the titles." the blonde replied.

"Really, what were the titles?" Sadie asked while Ruby looked just as interested like the younger initiates.

"The titles were, well some sounded not all too pleasant, not that ours are all to better, but maybe less unsettling."

"Thoth!" some yelled impatiently.

"Sorry, got carried away, well the titles were: _The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian, The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades_ and I'm not sure about the last book's title." the God admitted while looking back at the others.

"Ok, some of those sound really unsettling." Jaz admitted she shuddered when she heard the titles of the fifth and sixth book.

"That is true, but returning to the original topic, when the Greeks followed the flame most of their important locations also followed them here like their home on Mount Olymphos is now hidden at the top of the Empire State Building, Mount Otrys where the palace of the Titans stands close to the Garden of Hesperides is now at Mount Tam near San Francisco as for Los Angles" here Set paused for a few seconds "that is where Hades's Underworld is placed." he finished with a small grin to the shocked people.

"You moved with our daughter to live above the Land of the Dead?" Mrs. Faust asked her son-in-law, her tone shocked while her husband tried to get to the terms with the fact that there are more Gods running around and if he understood right had these, just like in the case of his son-in-laws brother, children with mortals.

"Though I still don't fully understand why you find it so ironic, beside us living above the world of the dead?" Ruby asked while taking in the amused looks of the initiates and the squirming of her children and was her daughter blushing? Luckily had she not spotted Anubis who cursed himself that he didn't take up his half-human form, the black fur served good to hide his blush, but he hoped that as long as he doesn't look at Sadie he would be fine.

**_but my dad's an archaeologist, so his work takes him all over._**

"What is that if I may ask?" Hatshepsut asked interrupting seeing how none of her fellow pharaohs seemed to be up to asking even thought they looked just as curious as her.

"An archaeologist is a person who searches for the past in a way, they visit old ruins and try working out how people had lived in ancient times or how much things have changed in thousands of years, it is kind of hard to explain without getting you more confused with the terms we use." Cleo told the queen.

"It is fine, I think I kind of understand what you wanted to say." the woman replied with a small smile before gesturing to the prince that he can continue.

_**Mostly we go to Egypt, since that's his specialty.**_

Julius nodded at this while the four nobles from the far past exchanged uneasy looks with each other.

**_Go into a bookstore; find a book about Egypt, there's a pretty good chance it was written by Dr. Julius Kane. You want to know how Egyptians pulled the brains out of mummies, or built the pyramids, or cursed King Tut's tomb? My dad is your man._**

Walt flinched at the reminder so Sadie grabbed his hand again to her younger father's displeasure while this time it was Ramses who interrupted.

"Why would those things needed to be written down in public places, our people know that and most of our neighbours know at least the basic for the pyramids." Ramses said, he didn't like how suddenly everyone avoided their gazes mostly by the Gods was the Goddess Isis staring at her folded hands.

"Let's just say, Ra had warned what would happen, but someone didn't listen." Set spoke up before giving Ashkender a look that he should continue which the prince did, but his throat felt suddenly as if he would have ventured out into the desert without water.

**_Of course, there are other reasons my dad moved around so much, but I didn't know his secret back then._**

"You didn't tell your son what he is?" Desjardins asked in surprise while Julius looked over at Carter.

"You didn't know?" he asked his son while by the thrones Osiris gave his host a mental pat on the back in sympathy.

"No, Sadie and I only found out later together with our heritage." Carter said to his father who slapped his forehead.

"And what about me?" Ruby asked, but Anubis had already waved his hand that Ashkender should continue.

**_I didn't go to school. My dad homeschooled me, if you can call it "home" schooling when you don't have a home. He sort of taught me whatever he thought was important, so I learned a lot about Egypt and basketball stats and my dad's favorite musicians._**

Julius squirmed under the gazes he was getting while trying to figure out why he didn't tell his son about his heritage, meanwhile was Osiris still trying to reassure his host with failing attempts.

**_I read a lot, too—pretty much anything I could get my hands on, from dad's history books to fantasy novels—because I spent a lot of time sitting around in hotels and airports and dig sites in foreign countries where I didn't know anybody .My dad was always telling me to put the book down and play some ball. You ever tried to start a game of pick-up basketball in Aswan, Egypt? It's not easy._**

Now were most people looking at both father and son incredulously before Set spoke up.

"It is easier if you can control the desert." she said while rolling her eyes when noting a good deal of people, her family included, looking at her. "You know that I was also a kid once." she said while glaring at her siblings.

**_Anyway, my dad trained me early to keep all my possessions in a single suitcase that fits in an airplane's overhead compartment. My dad packed the same way, except he was allowed an extra workbag for his archaeology tools. Rule number one: I was not allowed to look in his workbag. That's a rule I never broke until the day of the explosion._**

"Ugh…I think I have told you Carter that most people would have already gone mad with curiosity if faced with that rule."

"I know Sadie, I know." Carter said while rolling his eyes before freezing down and looking at his sister who also had a shocked expression as they did their best to not look at their uncle who will in a few chapters know that they kind of blasted the library door to shreds.

**_In happened on Christmas Eve._**

"You blew up the British Museum from all times on Christmas Eve?" Ruby asked her husband who of avoided her gaze.

"Would you have preferred it on a visitation's day to your parents?" he mumbled to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing Ruby." Julius hurriedly replied while Amir only shook his head at him.

**_We were in London for visitation day with my sister, Sadie._**

"Huh?" come it from some of the visitors.

"Did they finally divorce?" Mr. Faust asked hopefully, but flinched by the glare his daughter was giving him.

**_See, Dad's only allowed two days a year with her—one in the winter, one in the summer—because our grandparents hate him._**

"Nothing new there." said the Kane and Faust family before looking at each other blinking.

"And still there is a family dynamic." Desjardins whispered to Iskander who only shook his head, he found both Julius and Amos to be endearing young men after one gets to know them.

Ascender was about to start reading again, but then he spotted the next line which made him look up at the siblings who nodded to him that he should read it, their will be fine.

**_After our mom died,_**

A shocked silence fell over the attic as those who already knew bowed their heads while those who didn't know stared in shock at the book, finally it was Ruby who spoke up.

"So this is the ground why I was not mentioned." she said in a faint tone before standing up and hugging both of her children then she returned to her husband's side who wrapped his arms protectively around her.

"And why do I have a feeling that this happened because of one of your foolish acts." Mr. Faust growled as he glared at his son-in-law, his daughter should have never meet this guy.

"Granddad, leave dad alone" Sadie spoke up in her father's defence.

"But…"

"Ruby had known that she would not return, she had known already months before it had happened." Isis spoke up suddenly in a sad tone, she had liked conversing with the other woman, it was probably because of this that she allowed her soul to be so close to her husband who was now hosting Osiris.

"Beside, that as much as painful it was for all of us, it was her sacrifice which gave us the chance to be still here today." Amos added in with a sad smile on his lips, Bast had an important role in the happenings which had shaped the new age they are now living in.

"I see, let us please continue then with the reading it won't bring us further to dwell on it." Ruby said suddenly before either of her parents could say something, but it would have been more her father anyway then her mother, she only held his hand tightly.

"Also if it helps any, Osiris has kind of allowed us to visit you when we like." Carter added in at which his mother gave the Ruler of he Dead a warm smile.

**_her parents (our grandparents) had this big court battle with Dad._**

"Of course." Ruby said while rolling her eyes.

**_After six lawyers,_**

"Uh…six for each side or six altogether?" asked Desjardins in either case those bills would have been not pretty.

"The later." Carter said.

**_two fistfights,_**

Both Ruby and her mother glared at their husbands.

**_and a near fatal attack with a spatula_**

Many stared blinking at the book then turned to a blushing Julius while by the thrones was Osiris suppressing a small snicker, he had been allowed to see that memory and it had been certainly amusing.

"I don't even want to know." Ruby said as she shook her head and signalled that they could continue.

**_(don't ask),_**

Most people nodded.

**_they won the right to keep Sadie with them in England. She was only six, two years younger than me, and they couldn't keep us both—at least that was their excuse for not taking me._**

Ruby glared at both of her parents who flinched, most of the others also looked annoyed and Carter tightened his grip on Zia's hand, just to be on the safe side.

"We will talk about this later on." Ruby said to her parents before turning back to the book, she will certainly give loud to her option about her parents not liking their grandson.

**_So Sadie was raised as a British school kid and I traveled around with my dad. We only saw Sadie twice a year, which was fine with me._**

"We have our odds, but that doesn't change that we are siblings." Sadie said when noticing their parents looking at them.

"That is true." Carter added in.

**_[Shut up, Sadie. Yes—I'm getting to that part.]_**

"And here is your proff." Jaz said with a small laugh while both Ruby and Julius relaxed, they didn't want their children to see each other as strangers.

**_So anyway, my dad and I had just flown into Heathrow after a couple of delays. It was a drizzly, cold afternoon. The whole taxi ride into the city, my dad seemed kind of nervous._**

"Like whenever we are visiting my parents." Ruby whispered to her husband who didn't answer.

**_Now, my dad is a big guy. You wouldn't think anything could make him nervous. He has dark brown skin like mine,_**

"I think anyone can see that the two of you look alike." Sadie said in an amused tone to her blushing brother while their mother was again glaring at her squirming parents.

**_piercing brown eyes,_**

Here queen Hatshepsut let her eyes wander over the mentioned man as well as both his brother and son before her gaze shifted to the two sitting on her right. She noted that they all had the same eyes, she wondered if there could be a relation.

"I really like your eyes." Zia whispered to Carter who tried not to blush, but he was fighting a loosing battle.

**_a bald head, and a goatee, so he looks like a buff evil scientist._**

At this broke a good number of people out laughing while both Juliuses spluttered at the last part of the description.

"Sorry dad." Carter said sheepishly while both older and younger versions of his uncle needed to hold onto their sitting places to not fall off of them when their laughter only increased.

It kind of took five full minutes till everyone had calmed down as for those who didn't get what was so funny, they didn't ask.

**_That afternoon he wore his cashmere winter coat and his best brown suit, the one he used for public lectures. Usually he exudes so much confidence that he dominates any room he walks into,_**

Most of those who knew Julius nodded, even if some grudgilly while Ashkender was kind of reminded on his brother, now that he thought about him he could see some similarities by the male members of the Kane family. If this was the case then his poor brother will be in for a shock when he also realizes this possibility.

**_but sometimes—like that afternoon—I saw another side to him that I didn't really understand. He kept looking over his shoulder like we were being hunted._**

Most members of the room looked at the book in confusion.

**_"Dad?" I said as we were getting off the A-40. "What's wrong?"_**

**_"No sign of them," he muttered. Then he must've realized he'd spoken aloud, because he looked at me kind of startled. "Nothing, Carter. Everything's fine. "Which bothered me because my dad's a terrible liar,_**

"Agreed." said everyone while Julius pouted.

"He certainly shares that fact with Osiris, beside being terrible at apologizing." Set whispered to Amos.

**_I always knew when he was hiding something, but I also knew that no amount of pestering will get the truth out of him. He was probably trying to protect me, though from what I didn't know._**

"It would have protected them more if at least one of them knew." Amos said with a sigh which made his brother look at him nervously.

"What do you mean?" Julius didn't like the idea of his children in danger and something in Amos's tone bothered him, but he didn't know what.

"You will see when we continue." was the only reply he got.

**_Sometimes I wondered if he had some dark secret in his past, some old enemy following him, maybe but the idea seemed ridiculous. Dad was just an archaeologist._**

There were a round of snorts at this.

"Oh, how naïve I had been back then." Carter said with a laugh before giving Sadie a look when he saw that she was about to comment, probably that it was more denseness then naivety and he was still stuck in that.

**_The other thing that troubled me: Dad was clutching his workbag._**

There were many suspicious looks at the book from those who didn't know what happened.

**_Usually when he does that, it means we're in danger._**

Ruby grabbed Julius's hand, she was starting to get why they got a protective spell put on their unborn children, she would not manage to listen to her husband and children being in danger without panicking, which was not good if you are pregnant.

**_Like that time gunmen stormed our hotel in Cairo._**

Julius winched when Ruby's grip hardened on his hand while Zia leaned against Carter, she felt slightly guilty how they were treated by them.

**_I heard shots coming from the lobby and ran downstairs to check on my dad. By the time I got there, he was just calmly zipping up his workbag while three unconscious gunmen hung by their feet from the chandelier, their robes falling over their heads so you could see their boxer shorts_**

There were a good deal of laughs at the mental image.

**_Dad claimed not to have witnessed anything, and in the end the police blamed a freak chandelier time,_**

"And those work to protect people." Desjardins said while shaking his head, yes a chandelier knocks out three gunmen and hung them out.

"Mortals, some of them believe anything." Thoth said with fond amusement.

**_we got caught in a riot in Paris. My dad found the nearest parked car, pushed me into the backseat, and told me to stay down. I pressed myself against the floorboards and kept my eyes shut tight. I could hear Dad in the driver's seat, rummaging in his bag, mumbling something to himself while the mob yelled and destroyed things outside. A few minutes later he told me it was safe to get up. Every other car on the block had been overturned and set on fire. Our car had been freshly washed and polished, and several twenty-euro notes had been tucked under the windshield wipers._**

"Nice turning of events, but you really should have told him." the younger Amos said to his brother, Carter had two times been close by when Julius needed to use his powers so why could he not tell the boy and maybe start teaching him?

**_Anyway, I'd come to respect the bag._**

"I king of have my own now." Carter said smiling.

**_It was our good luck charm. But when my dad kept it close, it meant we were going to need good luck._**

Ruby bit back a groan while Rachel gave her a reassuring smile, she understood that it was not easy for her to hear how two of her loved ones were getting into danger, she herself also feared when her daughter would be caught up into all of this.

**_We drove through the city center, heading east toward my grandparents' flat. We passed the golden gates of Buckingham Palace, the big stone column in Trafalgar Square. London is a pretty cool place, but after you've been traveling for so long, all cities start to blend together. Other kids I meet sometimes say, "Wow, you're so lucky you get to travel so much." But it's not like we spend our time sightseeing or have a lot money to travel in style. We've stayed in some pretty rough places, and we hardly ever stay anywhere longer than a few days. Most of the time it feels like we're fugitives rather than tourists._**

More confused gazes while both Iskander and Desjardins looked suddenly over at the Gods, something was starting to slowly get clearer in their minds while the Fausts decided that it would be a bad idea to speak their thoughts.

**_I mean, you wouldn't think my dad's work was does lectures on topics like "Can Egyptian Magic Really Kill You?"_**

"Yes." chorused almost everyone in the room.

**_and "Favorite Punishments in the Egyptian Underworld"_**

"That is a good topic." said both Set and Anubis at the same time making the later divinity avoid his father's gaze.

**_and other stuff most people wouldn't care about._**

Those from the ancient times did not understand how people could have changed so much since their time.

**_But like I said, there's that other side to him. He's always very cautious, checking every hotel room before he lets me walk into it. He'll dart into a museum to see some artifacts, take a few notes, and rush out again like he's afraid to be caught on the security cameras._****_One time when I was younger, we raced across the Charles de Gaulle airport to catch a last-minute flight, and Dad didn't relax until the plane was off the ground, I asked him point blank what he was running from, and he looked at me like I'd just pulled the pin out of a grenade. For a second I was scared he might actually tell me the truth. Then he said, "Carter, it's nothing." As if "nothing" were the most terrible thing in the world .After that, I decided maybe it was better not to ask questions._**

"Wish I would have." Carter whispered to those sitting the closest to him.

**_My grandparents, the Fausts, live in a housing development near Canary Wharf, right on the banks of the River Thames. The taxi let us off at the curb, and my dad asked the driver to wait. We were halfway up the walk when Dad froze. He turned and looked behind us. "What?" I asked._**

"Ah, seems that I'm now also joining in." older Amos said in an amused tone while looking over at his nephew and niece who both grinned back at him.

"Great, he will be also visiting." mumbled Mr. Faust in annoyance, but at least had they been spared most of the time from him unlike in the case of his brother.

**_Then I saw the man in the trench coat. He was across the street, leaning against a big dead tree, he was barrel shaped, with skin the color of roasted coffee. His coat and black pinstriped suit looked expensive. He had long braided hair and wore a black fedora pulled down low over his dark round glasses._**

"Now I mostly go around in red." older Amos said with a small grin.

"We can certainly see that." Desjardins said in distaste while Narmer nodded his head his brother only rolled his eyes, he personally was proud about having him as a descendant of their family.

"I'm not ashamed about my allegiance" Amos said while fixing the other with his gaze before continuing in a more amused tone ", beside that some reactions people get when they see me is quiet amusing."

"I can certainly remember some amusing incidents." Set said with a grin.

"I still have trouble believing this." the younger Amos whispered to both Julius and Ruby.

"Though you need to admit that red is certainly a fitting colour for you." Ruby said not exactly helping her brother-in-law.

**_He reminded me of a jazz musician, the kind my dad would always drag me to see in concert._**

"They are not bad." said Julius, both Amoses and Set together.

"You have been on a jazz concert?" Isis asked her brother while looking at him.

"Of course, the last time was a week before Horus decided to do something amusing." Set replied back in a cold tone.

**_Even though I couldn't see his eyes, I got the impression he was watching us. He might've been an old friend or colleague of Dad's._**

"More like his brother who was there on a doomed mission to talk some sense into your father." Amos said, in the end had things turned out for the best, but he would have still liked his family to be in less danger.

**_No matter where we went, Dad was always running into people he knew. But it did seem strange that the guy was waiting here, outside my grandparents'. And he didn't look happy._**

"Did you expect me to be?" Amos asked his nephew.

"No, it your case would I have used a binding magic on dad the moment I saw him." Carter replied back while Julius looked nervously at the younger version of his brother who looked thoughtful.

**_"Carter," my dad said, "go on ahead." _**

**_"But—"_**

**_"Get your sister. I'll meet you back at the taxi. "He crossed the street toward the man in the trench coat, which left me with two choices: follow my dad and see what was going on, or do what I was told. I decided on the slightly less dangerous path. I went to retrieve my sister._**

"So I'm the less dangerous task?" Sadie asked her brother who leaned closer to her.

"Imagine those two getting into a fight now." was his only reply as Sadie shuddered.

"Agree." she said while waving away the questioning gazes they were getting.

**_Before I could even knock, Sadie opened the door. "Late as usual," she said. She was holding her cat, Muffin,who'd been a "going away" gift from Dad six years before._**

There were many fond smiles at the mention of Bast.

**_Muffin never seemed to get older or bigger._**

"That is not normal for a cat." Amir said in a stunned tone.

"You will see, but she is the best cat." Shelby said with a bright smile.

**_She had fuzzy yellow-and-black fur like a miniature leopard, alert yellow eyes, and pointy ears that were too tall for her head. A silver Egyptian pendant dangled from her collar. She didn't look anything like a muffin, but Sadie had been little when she named her, so I guess you have to cut her some hadn't changed much either since last summer._**

**_[As I'm recording this, she's standing next to me, glaring, so I'd better be careful_****_how I describe her.]_**

"She is certainly her mother's daughter." Iskander said as he gave a smile to the blushing mother and daughter pair.

**_You would never guess she's my sister. First of all, she'd been living in England so long, she has a British accent. Second, she takes after our mom, who was white, so Sadie's skin is much lighter than me. She has straight caramel-colored hair, not exactly blond but not brown , which she usually dyes with streaks of bright colors. _**

Everyone looked at Sadie who this time had light blue streaks in her hair.

**_That day it had red streaks down the left side._**

Narmer wanted to groan while his brother continued with his reading, he was really starting to be less frustrated and more amused by his brother's vehement war against anything that had to do with the cult of the Red Lord.

**_Her eyes are blue. I'm serious. Blue eyes, just like our mom's. She's only twelve, but she's exactly as tall as me, which is really annoying._**

"At least not anymore." Carter said in relief while Sadie stuck her tongue out at him.

"You got your father's genetic." Amos told his nephew.

**_She was chewing gum as usual, dressed for her day out with Dad in battered jeans, a leather jacket, and combat boots, like she was going to a concert and was hoping to stomp on some people._**

Sadie blushed at this seeing how she noticed both Walt and Anubis nodding their head in agreement.

**_She had headphones dangling around her neck in case we bored her._**

**_[Okay, she didn't hit me, so I guess I did an okay job of describing her.]_**

There were again some snickers.

**_"Our plane was late," I told her. She popped a bubble, rubbed Muffin's head, and tossed the cat inside. "Gran, going out!" From somewhere in the house, Grandma Faust said something I couldn't make out, probably "Don't let them in!"_**

Ruby gave her mother a look at this.

**_Sadie closed the door and regarded me as if I were a dead mouse her cat had just dragged in._**

"She would be offended for this one." Set said in an amused tone as he glanced over at Horus who was doing his best to stare at the ceiling, the memory still hurt him.

**_"So, here you are again." _**

**_"Yep." _**

**_"Come on, then." She sighed. "Let's get on with it." _**

**_That's the way she was. No "Hi, how you been the last six months? So glad to see you!" or anything. But that was okay with me._**

"Sorry." Sadie whispered to her brother.

"I'm also sorry." he whispered back to her.

**_When you only see each other twice a year, it's like you're distant cousins rather than siblings. We had absolutely nothing in common except our parents._**

"Not for long." the two said in union.

**_We trudged down the steps. I was thinking how she smelled like a combination of old people's house and bubble gum_**

"At least not anymore." Sadie mumbled to herself while some who heard her snickered.

**_when she stopped so abruptly, I ran into her. "Who's that?" she asked I'd almost forgotten about the dude in the trench coat._**

"I know that I may have seen Sadie only rarely, but that neither of you know me." the younger Amos said frowning, sure he and Julius had on occasions their quarrels and he was busy leading Brooklyn House, but that still didn't explain why his brother's children did not know him.

"There were some things which made you not able to see us for a long time, the book will answer." Carter told his uncle who nodded.

**_He and my dad were standing across the street next to the big tree, having what looked like a serious argument. Dad's back was turned so I couldn't see his face, but he gestured with his hands like he does when he's agitated. The other guy scowled and shook his head. "Dunno," I said. "He was there when we pulled up." _**

**_"He looks familiar." Sadie frowned like she was trying to remember._**

"See we kind of remember, but the memory had been pretty old." Sadie said, but it only relaxed her uncle a little.

**_"Come on." "Dad wants us to wait in the cab,"_**

"I don't know why I even commented." Carter said while Sadie grinned.

"So she is like Ruby even in character." Julius said to his son who nodded.

**_I said, even though I knew it was no use. Sadie was already in the of going straight across the street, she dashed up the sidewalk for half a block, ducking behind cars, then crossed to the opposite side and crouched under a low stone wall. She started sneaking toward our dad. I didn't have much choice but to follow her example, even though it made me feel kind of stupid._**

"Yes, direct charging is always better." Horus said while some gave him strange looks.

**_"Six years in England," I muttered, "and she thinks she's James Bond."_**

Some people shook their heads at this.

**_Sadie swatted me without looking back and kept creeping forward. A couple more steps and we were right behind the big dead tree. I could hear my dad on the other side, saying, "—have to, Amos. You know it's the right thing." _**

**_"No," said the other man, who must've been Amos. His voice was deep and even—very insistent. His accent was American. "If I don't stop you, Julius, they will. The Per Ankh is shadowing you."_**

"What!" there were a good deal of shocked yells.

"Julius." Ruby said to her husband, what had he done.

"I think that it may have something to do with the presence of the Gods here, but I believe we should only fell judgement when we have finished reading." Iskander said in a firm tone while everyone bowed their heads in acceptance.

"What had this to do with the Gods being present here?" Ramses asked in confusion, noting how most looked uncomfortable.

"The book will explain." Isis said.

**_Sadie turned to me and mouth the words "Per what?" I shook my head, just as mystified. _**

**_"Let's get out of here," I whispered, because I figured we'd be spotted any minute and get in serious trouble. Sadie, of course, ignored me. _**

**_"They don't know my plan," my father was saying. "By the time they figure it out—" _**

**_"And the children?" Amos asked._**

"Thank you Amos for thinking about their safety." Ruby said before standing up and giving both the present and future form of her brother-in-law a hug.

**_The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. "What about them?" "I've made arrangements to protect them," my dad said. "Besides, if I don't do this, we're all in danger. Now, back off." _**

**_"I can't, Julius."_**

"Stubbornness runs in the family." Amos said with a small grin.

**_"Then it's a duel you want?" Dad's tone turned deadly serious. "You never could beat me, Amos."_**

"Well, now he has me." Set said in a defiant tone as she looked over at Julius with narrowed eyes making the man squirm in his seat while his brother from their time blushed against his will.

"Set, leave Julius alone." older Amos said as he placed a hand on the God's arm who nodded and turned her gaze back to the book.

_**I hadn't seen my dad get violent since the Great Spatula Incident, and I wasn't anxious to see a repeat of that,**_

"You know I really wanna know what happened!" Julian said and the rest of the initiates nodded their heads in agreement.

"Maybe after the books." Carter suggested.

**_but the two men seemed to be edging toward a fight. Before I could react, Sadie popped up and shouted, "Dad!" He looked surprised when she tackled-hugged him, but not nearly as surprised as the other guy, Amos. He backed up so quickly, he tripped over his own trench coat._**

"That was not fun." the current Chief Lector grumbled under his breath as the others broke out laughing.

"I found the memory amusing." Set whispered to him while Sadie gave her uncle an apologetic smile.

**_He'd taken off his glasses. I couldn't help thinking that Sadie was right. He did look familiar—like a very distant memory._**

"Now not so distant." the siblings whispered, they really adored their uncle and were protective about him.

**_"I—I must be going," he said. He straightened his fedora and lumbered down the road. Our dad watched him go. He kept one arm protectively around Sadie and one hand inside the workbag slung over his shoulder._**

Julius flinched by the soft growl which reached his ears before he heard the voice of Tawaret in his head. _'Due to the pregnancy will his reactions be controlled by hormones, this also means that he will be more protective towards certain people like your brother, don't worry Amos keeps him in check.' _and she was gone from his mind.

**_Finally, when Amos disappeared around the corner, Dad relaxed. He took his hand out of the bag and smiled at Sadie. "Hello, sweetheart." Sadie pushed away from him and crossed her arms. _**

**_"Oh, now it's sweetheart, is it? You're late. Visitation Day's nearly over! And what was that about? Who's Amos, and what's the Per Ankh?" Dad stiffened. He glanced at me like he was wondering how much we'd overheard. _**

**_"It's nothing," he said, trying to sound upbeat. "I have a wonderful evening planned. Who'd like a private tour of the British Museum?"_**

"Amos, thank you again so much for carring about the safety of the children, I'm sure that you will make a good father." Ruby said while hitting Julius on the arm. "As for you, you take our children to the place you will blow up while having the Per Ankh shadowing you?" she asked in a threatening tone.

"I think you should continue reading." Hatshepsut told the prince at her side gently.

"You are right." he answered before continuing.

**_Sadie slumped in the back of the taxi between Dad and me. "I can't believe it," she grumbled. "One evening together, and you want to do research. Dad tried for a smile. _**

**_"Sweetheart, it'll be fun. The curator of the Egyptian collection personally invited—" _**

**_"Right, big surprise." Sadie blew a strand of red-streaked hair out of her face. "Christmas Eve, and we're going to see some moldy old relics from Egypt. Do you ever think about anything else? _**

"Sorry." Sadie said when she got stared at for the moldy comment.

**_Dad didn't get mad. He never gets mad at Sadie._**

**_He just stared out of the window at the darkening sky and the rain._****_"Yes," he said quietly. "I do."_**

**_Whenever Dad got quiet like that and stared off into nowhere, I knew he was thinking about our mom. _**

The atmosphere turned sombre again while Ruby leaned against her husband.

**_The last few months, it had been happening a lot. I'd walk into our hotel room and find him with his cell phone in his hands, Mom's picture smiling up at him from the screen—her hair tucked under a headscarf, her blue eyes startlingly bright against the desert backdrop._**

Some of the females had tears in their eyes at this.

**_Or we'd be at some dig site. I'd seen Dad staring at the horizon, and I'd know he was remembering how he's met her—two young scientists in the Valley of the Kings, on a dig to discover a lost tomb._**

"Why…", but Ramses was interrupted.

"It is common nowadays that the tombs get searched." Osiris told the rulers calmly while the future members of the Kane family exchanged glances, they really had some ironic connection with death.

**_Dad was an Egyptologist. Mom was an anthropologist looking for ancient DNA. He'd told me the story a thousand times. Our taxi snaked its way along the banks of the Thames. Just past Waterloo Bridge, my dad tensed. "Driver," he said. "Stop here a moment." The cabbie pulled over on the Victoria Embankment. _**

**_"What is it, Dad?" I asked. He got out of the cab like he hadn't heard me. When Sadie and I joined him on the sidewalk, he was staring up at Cleopatra's Needle. In case you've never seen it the Needle is an obelisk, not a needle, and it doesn't have anything to do with Cleopatra. I guess the British just thought the name sounded cool when they brought it to London. It's about seventy feet tall, which would've been really impressive back in Ancient Egypt, but on the Thames, with all the tall buildings around, it looks small and sad. _**

Those who knew the other significance of the obelisk looked either sad or shuddered while the four past nobles felt a pang in their chest as they wondered what prophecy Ra had once told someone, but deep down they knew that it was not good, prophecies rarely are.

**_You could drive right by it and not even realize you'd just passed something that was a thousand years older than the city of London. "God." Sadie walked around in a frustrated circle. "Do we have to stop for every monument?"_**

**_My dad stared at the top of the obelisk. "I had to see it again," he murmured. "Where it happened..." _**

Some people started to feel a cold chill in their stomachs.

**_A freezing wind blew off the river. I wanted to get back in the cab, but my dad was really starting to worry me. I'd never seen him so distracted. "What, Dad?" I asked. "What happened here?" _**

**_"The last place I saw her. Sadie stopped pacing. She scowled at me uncertainly, then back at Dad._**

**_"Hang on. Do you mean Mum?"_**

"Please no…" Ruby said in a small voice, she had as a child always loved hanging around that monument to know that it had been the place where she…

**_Dad brushed Sadie's hair behind her ear, and she was so surprised, she didn't even push him away. I felt like the rain had frozen me solid. Mom's death had always been a forbidden subject. I knew she'd died in an accident in London._**

**_I knew my grandparents blamed my dad._**

"And seems we will stand correct." Mr. Faust said, but then two canine like growls made him freeze down.

"You were told that she knew what would happen so stop it." Anubis growled out, his face changing between that of a normal human and a black jackal.

"You should realize it mortal that you can't control the path your children take, she knew that if she goes she would not return and she didn't turn away." Set added in while Ruby couldn't help herself she blushed slightly at the hidden praise in the words of the two Gods.

**_But no one would ever tell us the details. I'd given up asking my dad, partly because it made him so sad, partly because he absolutely refused to tell me anything. "When you're older" was all he would say, which was the most frustrating response ever._**

"It is not always good to keep secrets from your family even if you do it to protect them." Osiris said to both his host and his younger counterpart.

**_"You're telling us she died here," I said. "At Cleopatra's Needle? What happened?" He lowered his head. "Dad!" Sadie protested. "I go past this every day, and you mean to say—all this time—and I didn't even know?" _**

**_"Do you still have your cat?" Dad asked her, which seemed like a really stupid question._**

"That was the worst change of topic I have ever heard." younger Amos told his brother with a raised eyebrow before turning to the other side when he heard a laugh.

"You won't say that after meeting Chiron, he is worse at that." Set said as she remembered her occasional trips to Camp Half-Blood.

**_"Of course I've still got the cat!" she said. "What does that have to do with anything?"_**

"Pretty much." Felix said grinning, he wondered if his penguins were still playing on the small iceberg he had made for them outside.

**_"And your amulet?" Sadie's hand went to her neck. When we were little, right before Sadie went to live with our grandparents, Dad had given us both Egyptian amulets. Mine was an Eye of Horus, which was a popular protection symbol in Ancient Egypt._**

"Yeah, but I would have preferred to not lose it." Horus grumbled to himself, that had hurt.

**_In fact my dad says the modern pharmacist's symbol, Rx, is a simplified version of the Eye of Horus, because medicine is supposed to protect you. Anyway, I always wore my amulet under my shirt, but I figured Sadie would've lost hers or thrown it away._**

**_To my surprise, she nodded. "'Course I have it, Dad, but don't change the subject. Gran's always going on about how you caused Mum's death. That's not true, is it?"_****_We waited. For once, Sadie and I wanted exactly the same thing—the truth._****_"_**

**_The night your mother died," my father started, "here at the Needle—"_**

**_A sudden flash illuminated the embankment. I turned, half blind, and just for a moment I glimpsed two figures: a tall pale man with a forked beard_**

Every gaze wandered over to Desjardins who did his best to ignore them, but he still felt bothered by the feeling of some of them, but he didn't know why.

**_and wearing cream-colored robes, and a coppery-skinned girl in dark blue robes and a headscarf—the kind of clothes I'd seen hundreds of times in Egypt._**

Rachel noticed her daughter blushing which made her bite back a groan, she would have liked for Zia to be much later in the books not right in the first chapter.

**_hey were just standing there side by side, not twenty feet away, watching us. Then the light faded. The figures melted into a fuzzy afterimage. When my eyes readjusted to the darkness, they were gone. _**

**_"Um..." Sadie said nervously. "Did you just see that?" _**

**_"Get in the cab," my dad said, pushing us toward the curb. "We're out of time." From that point on, Dad clammed up."This isn't the place to talk," he said, glancing behind us. He'd promised the cabbie an extra ten pounds if he got us to the museum in under five minutes, and the cabbie was doing his best._**

"Julius Kane!" Ruby yelled at her husband the museum was twenty minutes from the Needle!

"Sorry, this will be in the future." was the only thing Julius could say.

**_"Dad," I tried, "those people at the river—" _**

**_"And that other bloke, Amos," Sadie said. "Are they Egyptian police or something?"_**

"Something better." Amos said.

**_"Look, both of you," Dad said, "I'm going to need your help tonight. I know it's hard, but you have to be patient. I'll explain everything, I promise, after we get to the museum. I'm going to make everything right again."_**

Osiris felt his host cursing himself, things had not turned out the way he had planned them.

"_**What do you mean?" Sadie insisted. "Make what right?"**_

_**Dad's expression was more than sad. It was almost guilty. With a chill, I thought about what Sadie had said: about our grandparents blaming him for Mom's death. That couldn't be what he was talking about, could it?**_

No one dared to say a word.

_**The cabbie swerved onto Great Russell Street and screeched to a halt in front of the museum's main gates.**_

"_**Just follow my lead," Dad told us. "When we meet the curator, act normal."**_

_**I was thinking that Sadie never acted normal, but I decided not to say anything.**_

_**We climbed out of the cab. I got our luggage while Dad paid the driver with a big wad of cash. Then he did something strange. He threw a handful of small objects into the backseat—they looked like stones, but it was too dark for me to be sure. "Keep driving," he told the cabbie. "Take us to Chelsea."**_

"You are trying to send us on a wrong track." Desjardins said while looking over at Julius.

"I'm not sure why I'm doing this." was his only reply.

_**That made no sense since we were already out of the cab, but the driver sped off. I glanced at Dad, then back at the cab, and before it turned the corner and disappeared in the dark, I caught a weird glimpse of three passengers in the backseat: a man and two kids.**_

_**I blinked. There was no way the cab could've picked up another fare so fast. "Dad—"**_

"Shabti." everyone said in a knowing tone.

"_**London cabs don't stay empty very long," he said matter-of-factly. "Come along, kids."**_

_**He marched off through the wrought iron gates. For a second, Sadie and I hesitated.**_

"_**Carter, what is going on?"**_

_**I shook my head. "I'm not sure I want to know."**_

"Sometimes I'm still undecided." Carter said with a shake of his head.

"_**Well, stay out here in the cold if you want, but I'm not leaving without an explanation." She turned and marched after our dad.**_

_**Looking back on it, I should've run. I should've dragged Sadie out of there and gotten as far away as possible. Instead I followed her through the gates.**_

"I don't like the foreshadowing, but at least you would have taken your sister with you." Ruby said with a groan.

"This was the end of the chapter." Ashkender spoke up.

"Then I will continue." the queen spoke up as she took the book into her lap.

_**An Explosion for Christmas**_

"Love the title." Ruby mumbled sarcastically.

_To be continued…_


	2. Next time, just get the jumper

A/N: I think I have stated it by some fics, I have constantly too many ideas at the same time and I need to write them down so that they don't get tangled. Eventually I always finish my fics even if it takes time to do that, writing is not easy.

* * *

II. Next time, just get the jumper

**_I'D BEEN TO THE BRITISH MUSEM BEFORE. In fact I've been in more museums than I like to admit—it makes me sound like a total geek._**

"Sorry Carter, but this doesn't just sound like it." Walt said carefully to his friend.

"Yep, you are a walking Wikipedia page." Sadie said grinning.

"It was not as if I had much of a choice in those visitations." Carter said while Julius looked sheepish.

"And sine a while am I the one who sees to many museums." Amos whispered to Set who nodded before adding.

"At least you won't go to them alone." she whispered back, not trying to think about the fact that this was how they got into this mess in the first place.

**_[That's Sadie in the background, yelling that I am a total geek. Thanks, Sis.]_**

"That option will never change." Sadie said before leaning over to her brother so that only he could hear her. "Beside that, your girlfriend is more then fine with that." and with that she leaned away from a blushing Carter while the others were staring at them in confusion. "Please continue queen Hatshepsut."

"Yes." was the dark-haired woman's reply as she looked back down at the page.

**_Anyway, the museum was closed and completely dark, but the curator and two security guards were waiting for us on the front steps._**

**_"Dr. Kane!" The curator was a greasy little dude in a cheap suit. I'd seen mummies with more hair and better teeth._**

There were some snickers at that comment.

"Of course, my followers and I take great pride in our work and know the importance of the ancient rites." Anubis said proudly while Walt nodded is head in complet agreement with him.

"Saddly it seems that only those from the oldest of bloods still use those." Set spoke up as she remembered some of her visits to Hades who had helped a good deal with getting the peace discussions started.

"Huh, people have given up on mummification?" asked a shocked Ramses.

"On that and also the burial happens with a joke like ceremony and most people just get in wooden boxes lowered into the earth and get a small hill atop of it with a gravestone marking their name, date of birth and death and maybe a bit of small decoration like a wish, goodbye or a small poem part or a little statue or picture. Even by our allies only the demigods and those of their families who know that the other parent is a God follow the rites." Thoth explained while not far from him Anubis mumbles something about forgetful mortals.

"Agreed, all those times I have visited Hades in the Underworld you can't imagine the large masses who are not able to pay even one cent to Charon to take them over to the other side." Set said, he didn't wonder that Hades lost it sometimes by the workload.

"But what happens with those souls who can't pay?" Cleo asked the God.

"They stay there where they are for the next three hundred years and then Hades pays their expense, this was the shortest rotations time he could manage to get all souls to where they belong and even so there were traffic jams by the Judgment Pavilion, worse then on Open Day by us and that didn't end by midnight." Set finished at which Osiris shuddered together with Anubis those days were busy, but having them each day.

"Ugh…that must be stressful." Ruby said with a shudder.

"Well, now you know why there are earthquakes in the L.A. area." Set said as the others gapped at him.

"Nice to know." Sean whispered to Alyssa who nodded.

"It is still hard to believe how much things have changed." Ramses whispered to his fellow rulers who all nodded before the reading started again.

**_He shook my dad's hand like he was meeting a rock star._**

There were again a good number of laughs.

"Isn't kind of insulting to be treated like a rock with a star on it?" Narmer asked in confusion which one the other hand made the laughter only increase, it was Zia who forced herself to calm down enough to explain to the pharaoh.

"No, the term rock star is used for a type of musician who are well known." she explained before retuning taking some deep calming breaths, the others were trying to do the same.

**_"Your last paper on Imhotep—brilliant! I don't know how you translated those spells!"_**

The four from the antique perked up at the name.

"Well, seeing that I'm also a magician was it easy." Julius said proudly while Desjardins only rolled his eyes at him.

**_"Im-ho-who?" Sadie muttered to me._**

Sadie blushed by the looks she was getting.

**_"Imhotep," I said. "High priest, architect. Some say he was a magician. Designed the first step pyramid. You know."_**

"He is a good man." Thoth said, he had made good of his once mentioned idea and meet up with him; he really had missed the talks with his former Eye.

"Don't want to know how he would feel about the movie where they gave the high priest the same name and let him return as a vengeful mummy a good few thousand years after he was mummificated alive as a punishment." Jaz said while the four of the antique and the Gods stared at her gapping.

"What?" they asked in confusion or disturbance.

"I looked at it more like a comedy, most movies are." Set spoke up, earning her the others gazes.

"How do you know?" Horus asked, then he noticed the sheepish look Carter had on his face. "Carter."

"Erm…you see it was around the time he was sent here that we wanted to do a movie marathon on the weekend when we watch movies featuring something about Egypt and seeing how there would be no adults and Set couldn't leave without someone accompanying him. Something you had ordered if you remember Horus. "the God nodded, of course he remembered one would if the host of your lieutenant, not by his choice, punches you upon first sight. "Meaning we asked him to watch them with us and this is why he knows." Carter finished explaining, to be honest it had been kind of a fun night with Set there.

"And where was I during all this?" Anubis asked not sure if he should be offended that he had been not asked to take part on that get-together or be happy that he didn't need to spend a whole day with his father on a close space.

"You were attending other things on that weekend." Walt told the God who nodded still unsure how to feel.

**_"Don't know," Sadie said. "Don't care. But thanks."_**

**_Dad expressed his gratitude to the curator for hosting us on a holiday. Then he put his hand on my shoulder. "Dr. Martin, I'd like you to meet Carter and Sadie."_**

**_"Ah! Your son, obviously, and—" The curator looked hesitantly at Sadie. "And this young lady?"_**

"Ugh…I hate when this happens." Sadie growled in annoyance so Walt patted her hand.

"They have a hard time to believe that you are siblings." Ruby said to her daughter who nodded.

"If it helps, most of the time have some people even by the Gods a hard time to believe that some are siblings." Osiris said helpfully.

"You know that all five of you kind of share some pattern in your looks." Sadie said while looking over all five of the Demon Days who gave each other looks as if trying to see the resemblance which was in some aspects funny in others also slightly sad.

"Then when it is time that you meet up with the others you can seen some examples like the Twin Archers Apollo and Artemis, if you don't manage to get them extremely mad at the same time one would not manage to imagine that they are twins. I could also bring up the demigods, but in most cases one speaks about half-siblings like your two classmates." Set said.

"True" Sadie said suddenly "Drew and Lacy are half-sisters, but I can't see anything alike in them and I know both since years." she finished looking more calmer, the talking had kind of helped with her annoyance.

"You seem to know much about the Gods on the other side." Iskander said as he looked at the Red God while Ashkender gave his brother a pointed look.

"I had been the one tasked with doing the treaty talks so I have spent a good deal of times on Olymphos and have visited both Camps, but mostly Camp Half-Blood which is nearby." Set explained to the old Chief Lector.

"Why he was sent I will never understand." Horus mumbled under his breath, but didn't say it out loud.

**_"My daughter," Dad said._**

**_Dr. Martin's stare went temporarily blank. _**

"Like usually." Sadie and Carter said.

**_Doesn't matter how open-minded or polite people think they are, there's always that moment of confusion that flashes across their faces when they realize Sadie is part of our family. I hate it, _**

"True," Sadie said.

**_but over the years I've come to expect it._**

"Also true and annoying." the siblings said while their parents frowned, when they return to their own time and have both the children they will take them to a good deal of symposiums to make people understand that siblings don't need to look alike.

**_The curator regained his smile. "Yes, yes, of course. Right this way, Dr. Kane. We're very honored!"_**

There were a good deal of eye rolls.

**_The security guards locked the doors behind us. They took our luggage, then one of them reached for Dad's workbag._**

**_"Ah, no," Dad said with a tight smile. "I'll keep this one."_**

**_The guards stayed in the foyer as we followed the curator into the Great Court. It was ominous at night. Dim light from the glass-domed ceiling cast crosshatched shadows across the walls like a giant spiderweb. Our footsteps clicked on the white marble floor._**

**_"So," Dad said, "the stone."_**

"Stone…" Desjardins said in a mystified tone while both Juliuses flinched, the Demon Days only held back groans.

**_"Yes!" the curator said. "Though I can't imagine what new information you could glean from it. It's been studied to death—our most famous artifact, of course."_**

**_"Of course," Dad said. "But you may be surprised."_**

**_"What's he on about now?" Sadie whispered to me._**

**_I didn't answer. I had a sneaking suspicion what stone they were talking about, but I couldn't figure out why Dad would drag us out on Christmas Eve to see it._**

"Now we know." Carter whispered to Sadie as both looked over the five Gods freed on that day.

**_I wondered what he'd been about to tell us at Cleopatra's Needle—something about our mother and the night she died. And why did he keep glancing around as if he expected those strange people we'd seen at the Needle to pop up again? We were locked in a museum surrounded by guards and high-tech security. Nobody could bother us in here—I hoped._**

"And I take that back now." Carter said making his parents and the other visitors nervous about what will happen.

**_We turned left into the Egyptian wing. The walls were lined with massive statues of the pharaohs and gods, but my dad bypassed them all and went straight for the main attraction in the middle of the room._**

**_"Beautiful," my father murmured. "And it's not a replica?"_**

**_"No, no," the curator promised. "We don't always keep the actual stone on display, but for you—this is quite real."_**

Desjardins eyes were slowly narrowing as his hands gripped his robes, he had a suspicious feeling in his stomach.

**_We were staring at a slab of dark gray rock about three feet tall and two feet wide. It sat on a pedestal, encased in a glass box. The flat surface of the stone was chiseled with three distinct bands of writing. The top part was Ancient Egyptian picture writing: hieroglyphics. The middle section...I had to rack my brain to remember what my dad called it: Demotic, a kind of writing from the period when the Greeks controlled Egypt and a lot of Greek words got mixed into Egyptian. The last lines were in Greek._**

**_"The Rosetta Stone," I said._**

"What are you planning with the stone Kane." Desjardins growled out and the siblings kind of understood now after learning more about him why he was acting like this.

"Erm…I don't know." Julius said, he never really managed to get along with the other magician, they kind of always ended up in an argument.

"Desjardins, please we should listen to what stands in the book and then we will know what is about to happen, the stone is an important artefact and thus will the House of Life take care that it won't be lost." younger Amos spoke up as he places a hand on the other man's shoulder.

"Fine, but only because you are right Amos." the French magician growled while turning his gaze back to the book, but he still looked annoyed, meanwhile gave Julius a thankful look to his brother, it had been most of the time Amos who had broken the two of them up in their arguments.

"It seems that Amos is pretty good with handling angry people." Shelby whispered to the others with her on he matt who all nodded in agreement.

"Our poor uncle, seems he always got the chaperone role." Sadie whispered to Carter who agreed with her.

**_"Isn't that a computer program?" Sadie asked._**

Sadie hid her face in Walt's shirt by the bewildered looks she was suddenly getting from most occupants of the attic.

**_I wanted to tell her how stupid she was, but the curator cut me off with a nervous laugh. "Young lady, the Rosetta Stone was the key to deciphering hieroglyphics! It was discovered by Napoleon's army in 1799 and—"_**

**_"Oh, right," Sadie said. "I remember now."_**

**_I knew she was just saying that to shut him up, but my dad wouldn't let it go._**

**_"Sadie," he said, "until this stone was discovered, regular mortals...er, I mean, no one had been able to read hieroglyphics for centuries. The written language of Egypt had been completely forgotten. Then an Englishman named Thomas Young proved that the Rosetta Stone's three languages all conveyed the same message. A Frenchman named Champollion took up the work and cracked the code of hieroglyphics."_**

Desjardins smiled as he heard the name, he just wished that he would have had the chance to see the House of Life at least once before his death.

**_Sadie chewed her gum, unimpressed. "What's it say, then?"_**

The reading was interrupted by the groaning of the Demon Days.

"Just ignore them and continue queen Hatshepsut, they will eventually calm down." older Amos said while he patted Set on the back as the God his her face in jacket, slightly shivering as she remembered being trapped in that small, enclosed space.

**_Dad shrugged. "Nothing important. It's basically a thank-you letter _**

More groans and some annoyed muttering, mixed with threats against the stone's creator and some other things which were hard to decipher, but one could see the old Chief Lector's eyes shine up in realization before he himself bit back a groan and started a muttered prayer for the protection of the soul of one of his passed away friend.

"Are you sure that they will be fine?" Ramses asked while looking over the Gods in slight worry.

"I'm sure." Amos assured him while Set mumbled something about hating small spaces.

**_from some priests to King Ptolemy V. When it was first carved, the stone was no big deal. But over the centuries...over the centuries it has become a powerful symbol. Perhaps the most important connection between Ancient Egypt and the modern world. I was a fool not to realize its potential sooner."_**

"I feel kind of lost." Amos said while his gaze lingered on his older self who was still holding Set and patting changed from patting to making small circles on her back.

"Does the stone have some connection to the strange behaviour of our Gods?" Ashkender asked while those who have come with them tensed.

"You don't mean that…" Desjardins paled, that Stone was a pride of their family and he had seen it as a kid enough time to know that when he touched it had he been in contact with…he was starting to feel sick.

"So this is what I'm talking about?" Julius asked in a small voice, he had a bad feeling about this.

"Ugh…it had been a terrible experience." Isis said while she gripped Osiris's hand.

"I don't know what was worse, being trapped in a than you note or the fact that all five of us were in a small space with no means of getting out." Horus said shuddering.

"Do you think I liked it? That damned little space for decades…" Set growled out while still clinging to Amos, shivering.

"Set?" Nephthys and Osiris asked who both remembered how pale the other had been during their imprisonment, beside being more iritatable.

"He is the God of the Desert and Storms beside his other two properties, this of course results with the drawback that he has claustrophobia, in other words he can't stand being in enclosed spaces." Amos said with a sigh while wondering why this little fact had been so hard to note to Set's siblings.

"That is not good, if one is faced with their own phobia for a long period of time gets one either cured from it or it worsens." Jaz said in a worried tone.

"It only worsened." was Amos's reply as Set started to cease shivering somewhat. "We should continue now with the reading, this is only the beginning of the second chapter." the others nodded, but both Nephthys and Osiris continued to send worried glances towards Set.

**_He'd lost me, and apparently the curator too._**

"He did that with most of us for some time." Ruby said while shaking her head not liking what might happen soon.

**_"Dr. Kane?" he asked. "Are you quite all right?"_**

"He never was right up there." Desjardins mumbled under his breath, still not liking the idea about what he had been informed.

**_Dad breathed deeply. "My apologies, Dr. Martin. I was just...thinking aloud. If I could have the glass removed? And if you could bring me the papers I asked for from your archives."_**

**_Dr. Martin nodded. He pressed a code into a small remote control, and the front of the glass box clicked open._**

**_"It will take a few minutes to retrieve the notes," Dr. Martin said. "For anyone else, I would hesitate to grant unguarded access to the stone, as you've requested. I trust you'll be careful."_**

"Well…one could put it like that, dad was careful till the complications." Sadie said while some of the others groaned.

**_He glanced at us kids like we were troublemakers._**

"He got that right." Set said with a weak smile, she was slowly starting to get out of her memories.

"Agreed." come it from the initiates while the siblings blushed.

**_"We'll be careful," Dad promised._**

**_As soon as Dr. Martin's steps receded, Dad turned to us with a frantic look in his eyes. "Children, this is very important. You have to stay out of this room."_**

"Let me guess, I should have not commented." Julius said while those from the present nodded their heads.

**_He slipped his workbag off his shoulder and unzipped it just enough to pull out a bike chain and padlock. "Follow Dr. Martin. You'll find his office at the end of the Great Court on the left. There's only one entrance. Once he's inside, wrap this around the door handles and lock it tight. We need to delay him."_**

**_"You want us to lock him in?" Sadie asked, suddenly interested. "Brilliant!"_**

Everyone only shook their heads, there was no use commenting.

**_"Dad," I said, "what's going on?"_**

**_"We don't have time for explanations," he said. "This will be our only chance. They're coming."_**

**_"Who's coming?" Sadie asked._**

**_He took Sadie by the shoulders. "Sweetheart, I love you. And I'm sorry...I'm sorry for many things, but there's no time now. If this works, I promise I'll make everything better for all of us. Carter, you're my brave man. You have to trust me. Remember, lock up Dr. Martin. Then stay out of this room!"_**

"You should have researched more." Amos spoke up kind of wondering what would have happened if all five of them would have been called, if things would have gone more smoother then.

**_Chaining the curator's door was easy. But as soon as we'd finished, we looked back the way we'd come and saw blue light streaming from the Egyptian gallery, as if our dad had installed a giant glowing aquarium._**

**_Sadie locked eyes with me. "Honestly, do you have any idea what he's up to?"_**

**_"None," I said. "But he's been acting strange lately. Thinking a lot about Mom. He keeps her picture..."_**

**_I didn't want to say more. Fortunately Sadie nodded like she understood._**

**_"What's in his workbag?" she asked._**

**_"I don't know. He told me never to look."_**

**_Sadie raised an eyebrow. "And you never did? God, that is so like you, Carter. You're hopeless."_**

"He is really slowly, but sill getting better." Sadie said while their parents wondered if this was now a good or bad thing.

**_I wanted to defend myself, but just then a tremor shook the floor._**

**_Startled, Sadie grabbed my arm. "He told us to stay put. I suppose you're going to follow that order too?"_**

**_Actually, that order was sounding pretty good to me, _**

"But unfortunately not for your sister." Julius said while massaging his forehead, his daughter only gave him a smile.

"Like her mother." Mrs. Faust mumbled to herself while her yes drifted on occasions to her future grandchildren and then to her ancestor.

**_but Sadie sprinted down the hall, and after a moment's hesitation, I ran after her._**

**_When we reached the entrance of the Egyptian gallery, we stopped dead in our tracks. Our dad stood in front of the Rosetta Stone with his back to us. A blue circle glowed on the floor around him, as if someone had switched on hidden neon tubes in the floor._**

**_My dad had thrown off his overcoat. His workbag lay open at his feet, revealing a wooden box about two feet long, painted with Egyptian images._**

**_"What's he holding?" Sadie whispered to me. "Is that a boomerang?"_**

"A boomerang?" Horus asked in a sceptical tone while the other stared blinking at Sadie who went back into hiding.

"Well, it kind of looks like one from afar." Mrs. Faust said as she remembered seeing pictures about some of her ancestors as a little girl, only because they had not used their magic since decades didn't mean that she was ashamed about her bloodline.

**_Sure enough, when Dad raised his hand, he was brandishing a curved white stick. It did look like a boomerang. But instead of throwing the stick, he touched it to the Rosetta Stone. Sadie caught her breath. Dad was writing on the stone. Wherever the boomerang made contact, glowing blue lines appeared on the granite. Hieroglyphs._**

**_It made no sense. How could he write glowing words with a stick? But the image was bright and clear: ram's horns above a box and an X._**

**_"Open," Sadie murmured. I stared at her, because it sounded like she had just translated the word, but that was impossible._**

**"****Not if you know your ancestry." Ruby said still not understanding why no one had told the children. **

**_I'd been hanging around Dad for years, and even I could read only a few hieroglyphs. They are seriously hard to learn._**

**_Dad raised his arms. He chanted: "Wo-seer, i-ei." And two more hieroglyphic symbols burned blue against the surface of the Rosetta Stone._**

**_As stunned as I was, I recognized the first symbol. It was the name of the Egyptian god of the dead._**

**_"Wo-seer," I whispered. I'd never heard it pronounced that way, but I knew what it meant. "Osiris."_**

A good deal of gazes were slowly drifting over to the God of the Dead while said God gave signal to his host that they will be soon revealed.

**_"Osiris, come," Sadie said, as if in a trance. Then her eyes widened. "No!" she shouted. "Dad, no!"_**

Iskander had his gaze on the book as tension started raising in the attic room, it seemed that some would try to bring back the old days and maybe it will be for all of their well.

**_Our father turned in surprise. He started to say, "Children—" but it was too late. The ground rumbled. The blue light turned to searing white, and the Rosetta Stone exploded._**

"Yep, Merry Christmas," Ruby murmured while glaring at Julius, who smiled sheepishly at her, he really should have taken into count that Osiris may not be the only one trapped and wanting out.

" . . ." Desjardins said in a forced calm tone as he turned to a pale Julius, if it weren't for both Iskander's and Amos's hand on his arms he was sure that the other would have pounced at him.

**_When I regained consciousness, the first thing I heard was laughter—horrible, gleeful laughter_**

"There is noting wrong with it." Set said offended while she looked at Carter.

"When you use your evil laughter then it is your regular laughter if fine with others, beside that I think you were still stressed after getting out of the Stone." Amos told the God calmly who nodded.

**_mixed with the blare of the museum's security alarms._**

**_I felt like I'd just been run over by a tractor. I sat up, dazed, and spit a piece of Rosetta Stone out of my mouth. _**

Some people made a face at that while Desjardins was still fuming.

**_The gallery was in ruins. Waves of fire rippled in pools along the floor. Giant statues had toppled. Sarcophagi had been knocked off their pedestals. Pieces of the Rosetta Stone had exploded outward with such force that they'd embedded themselves in the columns, the walls, the other exhibits._**

Many people winched at this while both Walt and Zia drew closer to Sadie and Carter even thought they knew that they didn't get hurt.

**_Sadie was passed out next to me, but she looked unharmed._**

Ruby let out a relieved sigh that both of her children would be fine before elbowing Julius in his side for endangering them in the future.

**_I shook her shoulder, and she grunted. "Ugh."_**

**_In front of us, where the Rosetta Stone had been, stood a smoking, sheared-off pedestal. The floor was blackened in a starburst pattern, except for the glowing blue circle around our father._**

**_He was facing our direction, but he didn't seem to be looking at us. A bloody cut ran across his scalp. He gripped the boomerang tightly._**

The Kanes winched, they hated seeing family hurt.

**_I didn't understand what he was looking at. Then the horrible laughter_**

Set crossed her arms in front of her chest in annoyance.

**_echoed around the room again, and I realized it was coming from right in front of me._**

**_Something stood between our father and us. At first, I could barely make it out—just a flicker of heat. But as I concentrated, it took on a vague form—the fiery outline of a man._**

**_He was taller than Dad, and his laugh cut through me like a chainsaw._**

**_"Well done," he said to my father. "Very well done, Julius."_**

**_"You were not summoned!" My father's voice trembled. He held up the boomerang, but the fiery man flicked one finger, and the stick flew from Dad's hand, shattering against the wall._**

"Strong emotions can influence a God's power." Hatshepsut said suddenly interrupting her own reading.

"You mean like being still under a panic attack, but instead of making you freeze down it doest the opposite?" Ruby asked the queen who nodded. "Wonderful." she groaned.

**_"I am never summoned, Julius,"_**

"Well, I kind of took care of that." Amos said while looking down at the God who was resting her head on his shoulder.

"And I'm glad about that, mostly that you thought that I would look ridiculous in a marmalade glass." Set replied back with a smile on her lips as Nephthys threw a heated look at Horus before kicking him again in the shin.

Narmer also wanted to comment, but two hands on his mouth stopped him from doing so much to Ramses's amusement.

**_the man purred. "But when you open a door, you must be prepared for guests to walk through."_**

"That was a good analogy." younger Amos said while trying to ignore his future self, fine he was slightly getting over the thing that he is following a God of Chaos, the fact that the others didn't seem to mind was reassuring, even the child thing he could get over with, it was not planned and neither of them could stop it from happening, but the fact that he felt as if he was flirting with the God and vice-versa was disturbing.

**_"Back to the Duat!" my father roared. "I have the power of the Great King!"_**

**_"Oh, scary," the fiery man said with amusement. "And even if you knew how to use that power, which you do not, he was never my match. I am the strongest. Now you will share his fate."_**

Everyone tensed in their seats even those who knew what would happen though Osiris still nodded, his little brother had not without ground been the third strongest after Lord Ra and Apophis.

**_I couldn't make sense of anything, but I knew that I had to help my dad. I tried to pick up the nearest chunk of stone, but I was so terrified my fingers felt frozen and numb. My hands were useless._**

**_Dad shot me a silent look of warning: Get out. I realized he was intentionally keeping the fiery man's back to us, hoping Sadie and I would escape unnoticed._**

Everyone groaned while the siblings smiled sheepishly.

**_Sadie was still groggy. I managed to drag her behind a column, into the shadows. When she started to protest, I clamped my hand over her mouth. That woke her up. She saw what was happening and stopped fighting._**

**_Alarms blared. Fire circled around the doorways of the gallery. The guards had to be on their way, but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing for us._**

"It wasn't…" the siblings mumbled.

**_Dad crouched to the floor, keeping his eyes on his enemy, and opened his painted wooden box. He brought out a small rod like a ruler. He muttered something under his breath and the rod elongated into a wooden staff as tall as he was._**

**_Sadie made a squeaking sound. I couldn't believe my eyes either, but things only got weirder._**

"They always do." Jaz said while the others nodded.

**_Dad threw his staff at the fiery man's feet, and it changed into an enormous serpent—ten feet long and as big around as I was—with coppery scales and glowing red eyes._**

"Did it really need to be close to Apophis's looks?" Set asked while doing her best to not look at Osiris seeing how it seemed that the others had not figured out who his host was.

"That was a short lived snake." Felix said as he remembered hearing how fast Set got rid of that staff, but now hearing about whom it had reminded him and the fact that he had seen the snake he could understand.

**_It lunged at the fiery man, who effortlessly grabbed the serpent by its neck. The man's hand burst into white-hot flames, and the snake burned to ashes._**

"I hate that slimy reptile and anything with close resemblance to it." Set growled.

"As you see brother he despised the God closest to his own nature." Ashkender whispered to his brother who huffed.

"That is because he wants the role of destructor for himself." Narmer replied back while his brother sighed.

**_"An old trick, Julius," the fiery man chided._**

**_My dad glanced at us, silently urging us again to run. Part of me refused to believe any of this was real. Maybe I was unconscious, having a nightmare. Next to me, Sadie picked up a chunk of stone._**

"That was useless." Set told the girl who nodded.

"I still needed to try something." she replied back.

**_"How many?" my dad asked quickly, trying to keep the fiery man's attention. "How many did I release?"_**

**_"Why, all five," the man said, as if explaining something to a child. "You should know we're a package deal, Julius._**

"Unfortunately." Isis, Horus and Set mumbled while both their oldest and youngest siblings shook their heads.

**_Soon I'll release even more, and they'll be very grateful. I shall be named king again."_**

**_"The Demon Days," my father said. "They'll stop you before it's too late."_**

"He was not implying you, was he?" Ruby asked her children who were avoiding her gaze.

**_The fiery man laughed. "You think the House can stop me? Those old fools can't even stop arguing among themselves._**

Amos needed to nod in his head, it had been hard getting things settled.

**_Now let the story be told anew. And this time you shall never rise!"_**

Iskander looked over at Osiris, he was starting to guess what this was about as were the four from he past.

**_The fiery man waved his hand. The blue circle at Dad's feet went dark. Dad grabbed for his toolbox, but it skittered across the floor._**

**_"Good-bye, Osiris," the fiery man said._**

Heads snapped over to the God sitting on his throne who gave a small smirk to them before he switched places with his host.

"Surprise." Julius said with a smirk on his lips.

"You have bounded with a God to become his eye?" surprisingly it was Mrs. Faust who spoke up making her daughter and grandchildren stare at her.

"Yes, I'm currently the Eye of Osiris." he said.

"So this is why the children can see me whenever they want." Ruby said not sure how she felt about what her husband had done, but at least was he fine.

"Yes, but we should continue now." Julius said while looking over at his younger self who looked still stunned.

**_With another flick of his hand, he conjured a glowing coffin around our dad. At first it was transparent, but as our father struggled and pounded on its sides, the coffin became more and more solid—a golden Egyptian sarcophagus inlaid with jewels. My dad caught my eyes one last time, and mouthed the word Run! before the coffin sank into the floor, as if the ground had turned to water._**

"I'm kind of sharing Osiris's sentiment that we both hate that coffin." Julius said while shaking his head.

"Well, your wife took Ra's throne unrightfully and set you on it, but if it helps I would have done that with anyone she would put up there as Horus experienced." Set said nonchalantly, but one could her the bitterness in her tone when she spoke about the dethroning of their past ruler.

**_"Dad!" I screamed._**

**_Sadie threw her stone, but it sailed harmlessly through the fiery man's head._**

"In my fire form is it hard touching me, you would need to be under my protection to do so." Set said with a shrug.

**_He turned, and for one terrible moment, his face appeared in the flames. What I saw made no sense. It was as if someone had superimposed two different faces on top of each other—one almost human, with pale skin, cruel, angular features,_**

Set raised an eyebrow at Carter who blushed in embarrassment as he remembered that the God shared some of his features with his brothers, not that he thought that Horus could not be cruel.

**_and glowing red eyes, the other like an animal with dark fur and sharp fangs. Worse than a dog or a wolf or a lion—some animal I'd never seen before._**

"You know that there are only a few hybrid animals in Egyptian mythology." Set said while still looking at an embarrassed Carter who was saved from answering by the queen who continued reading.

**_Those red eyes stared at me, and I knew I was going to die._**

"I felt more like first screaming and then strangling him when I first found out that he was back." Amos said nonchalantly while Carter tried not to snicker as he remembered walking into his uncle's room at seven in the morning and finding him in bed with Set in his animal form atop of him waging his tail and telling him that he woke the other up because he was bored.

"Huh?"

"You would to if you found out that you had a God in their full animal form in your bedroom while you were sleeping sine three in the morning." Amos replied while his younger self paled at the thought.

**_Behind me, heavy footsteps echoed on the marble floor of the Great Court. Voices were barking orders. The security guards, maybe the police—but they'd never get here in time._**

**_The fiery man lunged at us. A few inches from my face, something shoved him backward. _**

Horus and Isis smirked at Set, who scowled in annoyance.

**_The air sparked with electricity. The amulet around my neck grew uncomfortably hot._**

**_The fiery man hissed, regarding me more carefully. "So...it's you."_**

Horus smirked, but it soon disappeared when Set just huffed and leaned back against Amos, something she found herself doing quiet often since getting pregnant, which resulted in a new kick from an annoyed water Goddess.

**_The building shook again. At the opposite end of the room, part of the wall exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Two people stepped through the gap—the man and the girl we'd seen at the Needle, their robes swirling around them. Both of them held staffs._**

Both Juliuses flinched as their eyes travelled over to Desjardins who still looked angry and ready to hurt someone.

**_The fiery man snarled. He looked at me one last time and said, "Soon, boy."_**

"I was talking at that time more with your bird then you." Set told Carter who nodded while Horus huffed in annoyance.

**_Then the entire room erupted in flames. A blast of heat sucked all the air of out my lungs and I crumpled to the floor._**

"It is better when you are someone he is not annoyed with or at that time." Nephthys said remembering the few times she had spent with her now sadly ex-husband.

"Mhm…it is certainly more like a calming warmth." Amos agreed making the Goddess flinch while the others looked in his direction.

"Meaning?" Julian asked curiously.

"It is more like spending time in front of the fireplace on a cold winter night." Amos tried to explain while Set blushed somewhat at the compliment, she rarely got those.

"That sounds nice." Ruby said.

**_The last thing I remember, the man with the forked beard and the girl in blue were standing over me. I heard the security guards running and shouting, getting closer. The girl crouched over me and drew a long curved knife from her belt._**

Zia winced while Carter took her hand to show her that he was not angry with her, this calmed her down.

**_"We must act quickly," she told the man._**

**_"Not yet," he said with some reluctance. His thick accent sounded French. "We must be sure before we destroy them."_**

With that Ruby stood up and hugged a startled Desjardins.

"I know that you will go against them, but thank you for not hurting them while they could not defend themselves." Ruby told him before going back to her seat.

**_I closed my eyes and drifted into unconsciousness._**

"This was the end of the chapter."

"Could I please read now? I want to know what will happen to my children." Ruby said at which the queen nodded and brought the book over to the pregnant woman who accepted it with a nod.

**_To be continued…_**


	3. Look at the bright side mom

A/N: so here is the next chapter I may do the same round by all three of my fics where characters read Riordan's books, but not sure I may go on a while with this like once by 'The fate in our hands' so please be patient, I think I managed to prove that it pays of in the end with a good chapter.

* * *

III. Look at the bright side mom

"Wonderful, the next chapter is in Sadie's point of view." Ruby said while her daughter bit her tongue to not groan about the fact that both of her parents, grandparents a bunch of Gods and some of her ancestors will be hearing her thoughts. "The title is _**Imprisoned with My Cat**_" Ruby read with a frown, she didn't like the title.

_**[Give me the bloody mic.]**_

"Sadie Kane, language." Ruby told her daughter who bowed her head, but on the inside felt kind of happy even thought she just got scolded.

"Sorry mum." she said before her mother continued on reading.

**_Hullo. Sadie here. My brother's a rubbish storyteller._**

"Well, he was pretty good with the bedtime stories." Shelby said while the other ones who had been kindergartener age or been pretty young at that time nodded their heads in agreement.

"Thanks Shelby…" Carter said feeling embarrassed while beside him Sadie looked close to laughing.

**_Sorry about that. But now you've got me, so all is well._**

**_Let's see. The explosion. Rosetta Stone in a billion pieces. Fiery evil bloke. _**

Set looked over to the girl with a raised eyebrow.

"You know me and my comments." she replied with a sheepish smile.

**_Dad boxed in a coffin._**

Both Juliuses and Osiris flinched at the way that got phrased.

**_Creepy Frenchman_**

Desjardins raised an eyebrow at that, and till now he had not even heard his other two nicknames from the Eye of Isis.

**_and Arab girl with the knife._**

Carter gently squeezed his girlfriend's hand to reassure her that it was fine.

**_Us passing out. Right._**

**_So when I woke up, the police were rushing about as you might expect. They separated me from my brother. I didn't really mind that part. He's a pain anyway._**

Ruby looked saddened at this and Sadie flinched.

"Mum, that was just something I thought, at that time had Carter and me only spent little time together, but now I would never think like that." Sadie said to try reassuring her mother.

"She is right mom, now that we have had more time together we are closer." Carter added in much to his sister's relief because Ruby looked a bit better now.

"Nothing brings adrift siblings better together then a number of life and death situations." Thoth said, but soon covered by the dark gazes he received from the occupants of the attic room.

"I don't agree with that statement seeing that Set and I are still not on better terms." Isis added in while still glaring at the other God.

"Isis, he said siblings, meaning that you must have seen me in the first place as your brother, but we know that neither of you had ever done that." Set said while looking at the Goddess so he didn't see Nephthys sink her head slightly or Julius as he felt Osiris flinch in sadness.

"That would explain it then, Ruby continue please." Isis told the diviner who still felt a bit uneasy about her children in life and death situations.

**_But they locked me in the curator's for _****_ages_****_._**

"I was bored." Sadie said while Set nodded in understanding, waiting in Amos's room for four hours while her Eye slept had been annoying.

**_And yes, they used _****_our_****_ bicycle chain to do it. Cretins._**

Some snickered at this little comment while Ruby turned her head to the side and fixated her gaze at her father.

"Why do I have the feeling that she was to often present when you were watching your games." she told him as her mother took over the glaring at her husband for teaching such language to their granddaughter.

**_I was shattered, of course. I'd just been knocked out by a fiery whatever-it-was._**

"Sorry Set, I was still kind of dazed or I would have said the exploding Stone." Sadie said hurriedly when the God turned in her direction while Desjardins gave Julius a new glare.

**_I'd watch my dad get packed in a sarcophagus and shot through the floor. I tried to tell the police about all that, but did they care? No._**

"Mortals rarely believe the truth when it comes to a world they have abandoned since the ancient times." Thoth said while shaking his head sorrowfully which made the four visitors from said time exchange again uneasy glances.

**_Worst of all: I had a lingering chill, as if someone was pushing ice-cold needles into the back of my neck._**

"_Sorry, this is the feeling one gets when I possess them, it disappears the longer we are connected."_ Sadie heard Isis in her head, she kind of figured after talking with Carter about this after they had given up on being hosts for the first time.

**_It had started when I looked at those at those blue glowing words Dad had drawn on the Rosetta Stone and I _****_knew_****_ what they meant. A family disease, perhaps?_**

"I was twelve at that time and had no clue what was going on." Sadie defended herself while returning to hide her face in Walt's shirt who dared to look amused, jerk, she would make him pay later for amusing himself at her discomfort.

**_Can knowledge of boring Egyptian stuff be hereditary?_**

"If even one of your parents was a magician then yes, this is like in the case of legacies who have at least a demigod as parent, they still inherit some powers or skill from their non-mortal parent." Set said.

**_With my luck._**

"Seeing what both your parents are." Anubis said grinning; he would be the second one getting it.

**_Long after my gum had gone stale, a policewoman finally retrieved me from the curator's office. She asked me no questions. She just trundled me into a police car and took me home. Even then, I wasn't allowed to explain to Gran and Gramps. The policewoman just tossed me into my room and I waited. And waited._**

**_I don't like waiting._**

"Don't we all know." said Carter, Amos, older Julius, the initiates and the Gods while Sadie blushed redder then the outfits Set and Amos wore.

"In other words like her mother." Amos whispered to his brother who remembered when he had kind of blocked down on that date he wanted to ask for Ruby's hand and she took things in her own hand with grabbing into his pocket, taking out the small box, putting the ring on and saying yes before scolding him that this would have only taken him like two minutes, but he looked as if he would make them stand there for two years.

**_I paced the floor. My room was nothing posh,_**

"Unlike her room here." Zia whispered to Carter.

**_just an attic space with a window and a bed and a desk. There wasn't much to do. Muffin sniffed my legs and her tail puffed up like a bottlebrush. I suppose she doesn't fancy the smell of museums._**

"To which…" Amos whispered to Set, but she already knew what he wanted to ask.

"She reacted to Isis's smell and figured out what she did." Set answered while looking over to the thrones where her sister sat scowling.

"I can understand her reaction." Amos whispered back, he knew that even thought Ra had now freely stepped down from his throne and choose his heir, that both Set and Bast had still not forgiven the Goddess for her trickery against their lord.

**_She hissed and disappeared under the bed._**

_**"**_**_Thanks a lot," I muttered._**

**_I opened the door, but the policewoman was standing guard._**

_**"**_**_The inspector will be with you in a moment," she told me. "Please stay inside."_**

**_I could see downstairs—just a glimpse of Gramps pacing the room, wringing his hands, while Carter and a police inspector talked on the sofa. I couldn't make out what they were saying._**

_**"**_**_Could I just use the loo?" I asked the nice officer._**

_**"**_**_No." She closed the door in my face. As if I might rig an explosion in the toilet. Honestly._**

"Technically, she could easily." Julius said, but shut up when he noticed the glare Ruby was giving him.

**_I dug out my iPod and scrolled through my playlist. Nothing struck me. I threw it on my bed in disgust. When I'm too distracted for music, that is a very sad thing. I wondered why Carter got to talk to the police first._**

"Believe me, it was not fun and I would have liked to get left alone." Carter told his sister before he remembered what type of words will fall this chapter so he will need to restrain Zia if he doesn't want Brooklyn House burned down, he was now really happy that both Set and Nephthys were in the house. His dad can take care about their mother.

**_It wasn't fair._**

"I was frustrated." come Sadie's muffled voice seeing how she still had her face hidden.

**_I fiddled with the necklace Dad had given me. I'd never been sure what the symbol meant. Carter's was obviously an eye, but mine looked a bit like an angel, or perhaps a killer alien robot._**

"Excuse me?!" Isis yelled in shock as she stared wide eyed at her host who finally come out of her hiding and gave her a sheepish smile.

"I like the later comparison." Set said before she started laughing while Isis turned her gaze now to her.

"You were not asked Set." Isis growled to the other.

"And do I care?" Set answered, calming down a bit before gesturing to Ruby to continue who did while smiling a bit at her daughter's imagination, she herself had by the first time she saw that symbol thought that it had been made by a two years old child trying to draw a person.

**_Why on earth had Dad asked if I still had it? _****_Of course_****_ I still had it. It was the only gift he'd ever given me._**

Both Juliuses flinched at this while Sadie avoided her dad's gaze, she had never planned on him hearing her thoughts.

**_Well, apart from Muffin, and with the cat's attitude, I'm not sure I would call her a proper gift._**

"I take that back now, she is one of the best things that had happened to me." Sadie said smiling, she had many things for which she was thankful to Bast.

"I really wonder what all of this is about the cat." Mr. Faust whispered to his wife who had a suspicion that when they find out will they not like it.

**_Dad had practically abandoned me at age six, after all._**

Both Juliuses flinched again while Ruby turned to her parents, her eyes blazing.

"What did you two tell all those years long to my daughter." she growled in anger while Julius wrapped his arms around her so that she doesn't march over to her parents while Amos took the book from her, just to be safe.

"I think we can be happy that mum was not a fire elementalist." Sadie whispered to her brother who nodded carefully, this was the first time that either of them had seen their mother angry.

"Ruby, please calm down, that had happened seven years ago, it is fine." older Julius told his wife who gave him a hard look before nodding.

"Fine, Amos you can give the book back to me." she said, but made a mental note that she will have a serious word with her parents about their behaviour or they can forget it that they will ever see either her or their grandchildren.

Amos nodded when he was sure that his sister-in-law had calmed down and handed the book back to her, the others around them also seemed to relax visibly, but there was still a lingering tension in the air and he doubted that it would disappear anytime soon.

**_The necklace was my one link to him. On good days I would stare at it and remember him fondly. On bad days (which were much more frequent) I would fling it across the room and stomp on it_**

"What!" Isis squeaked while Set leaned closer to Amos so that the others won't hear her.

"I really like the way she treats it." Set whispered to Amos who nodded.

"You certainly would." he answered back.

"Young lady, you know that disrespecting a God's symbol is the same as disrespecting the God themselves?" Narmer asked the blonde girl when Set spoke up, this time for all to hear and sent a glare at the smaller couch.

"That is rich coming from you." she growled, no one seemed to care when it was her symbol which had been carved out of monuments, obelisks, temples and everywhere even thought in the past had all high ranking people carried it as a symbol of power. It was Amos' hands on her shoulders which made her lean back and to somewhat calm down.

"Ruby." Julius whispered to his wife who understood.

**_and curse him for not being around, which I found quite therapeutic. But in the end, I always put it back on._**

**_At any rate, during the weirdness at the museum—and I'm not making this up—the necklace got _****_hotter_****_. I nearly took it off,_**

"If I'm guessing right what had happened then it was a good thing that you have kept it on, taking it down in that moment would have done you serious harm." Iskander said as he looked over at the siblings, it seemed that he had been right with the Kanes being a really interesting family.

"You mean that…" Desjardins started, before stopping and mumbling something in French.

"Huh?" younger Julius and Mr. Faust asked at the same time, before looking at each other in horror.

"So you are both hosts?" Ramses asked the siblings.

"Yes, Sadie got Isis and as Set had pointed it out I got the bird." Carter said at which Horus let out an offended sound, Set gave Carter a smile while Narmer huffed angrily before glaring at his brother who let out a small snicker.

**_but I couldn't help wondering if it truly was protecting me somehow._**

"Partially." Sadie said remembering how Isis wanted to let her poor uncle be murdered and then abandoned her when she had needed her the most.

"What do you mean?" her mother asked while looking from her daughter to the Goddess who fidgeted on her throne uncomfortably, she had guessed what her host was referring to without her using their link.

"You will see, but I will be fine." Sadie told her mother.

**_I'll make things right_****_, Dad had said, with that guilty look he often gives me._**

**_Well, colossal fail, Dad._**

"Things kind of went not the way I planned." older Julius said with a sheepish grin.

"At least no one ended up pregnant and stuck with the wrong gender in your case." Set said as she glared at Horus who got another kick from his aunt.

"You are stuck?" Ashkender asked the God in a stunned tone, he knew that Lord Set was a shape shifter so him being stuck in a form was strange.

"Yes, the only other forms I can take up is the storm cloud form for travel and I still can take up my animal form, but that is it Thoth is still working on the antidote." Set explained in annoyance, she was more then fine with the baby she would be having, but being stuck as a woman was irritating to say at least.

"I try my best, but I would need a test subject…" Thoth stared.

"Not while he is/I'm pregnant." snapped Set, Amos and Tawaret at the God, who held up his hands in surrender.

"Of course I would not think about endangering the child, but if someone would take the same potion I could find the antidote much sooner then only testing the liquid without seeing the actual results." he explained.

"Horus will gladly volunteer." Nephthys said at which said God snapped his head over in her direction, eyes wide in shock.

"I will not let myself be turned into a woman." he said defiantly.

"You started this so is it only understandable that you help solving it." the Goddess retorted back to her nephew, if she couldn't have Set back, then at least she could make the one who caused her to fail pay.

"I could take over the paperwork." Set said in a thoughtful tone, she knew how to lay out a bite.

"I will do it after we are done with the books!" Horus said, missing the grin on Set's face, bingo the bird had caught on.

"Does he know that he will have to drink every potion Thoth makes to test out which will turn him back into a guy?" Sadie whispered to Carter who looked over at the God.

"Now you see why on some days I ask myself if Ra hadn't had one last senile moment before deciding to make him legally his successor." Carter whispered back as he continued to watch Horus who was still talking about benign free from paperwork.

It took two more minutes for the reading to resume.

**_What had he been thinking? I wanted to believe it had all been a bad dream: the glowing hieroglyphs, the snake staff, the coffin. Things like that simply don't happen. But I knew better. I couldn't dream anything as horrifying as that fiery man's face when he'd turned on us._**

"Sorry." Sadie said and it was the truth, she didn't think Set horrifying anymore for that had she been in to many such situations and then there was Apophis.

**_"Soon, boy," he'd told Carter,_**

"And now you know that I was talking to someone other." Set said while the siblings nodded, Horus was still to busy to celebrate that he would be free from doing his paperwork.

**_as if he intended to track us down. Just the idea made me tremble._**

"And how fast that had changed." Set said while shaking her head as the siblings grinned at her, in the past years they got pretty much used to the God.

**_I also couldn't help wondering about our stop at Cleopatra's Needle, how Dad had insisted on seeing it, as if he were steeling his courage, as if what he did at the British Museum had something to do with my mum._**

"It did," older Julius said.

**_My eyes wandered across my room and fixed on my desk._**

**_No_****_, I thought. _****_Not going to do it_****_._**

Sadie received some curious glances, but she only gestured to her mother to read on.

**_But I walked over and opened the drawer. I shoved aside a few old mags, my stash of sweets, a stack of maths homework I'd forgotten to hand in, and a few pictures of me and my mates Liz and Emma trying on ridiculous hats in Camden Market. And there at the bottom of it all was the picture of Mum._**

**_Gran and Gramps had loads of pictures. They keep a shrine to Ruby in the hall cupboard—_**

"There is nothing strange with that." Anubis said.

"You are not helping and at that time I found it freaky." Sadie said while glaring at the jackal headed God.

**_Mum's childhood artwork, her O-level results, her graduation picture from university, her favorite jewelry. It's quite mental._**

Sadie held up her hand that no one should comment.

**_I was determined not to be like them, living in the past._**

"Which is kind of hard to do in your situation." Walt told his girlfriend teasingly while Mrs. Faust looked down into her lap, this had been what her family had tried to do for generations, but then her daughter had resumed it all again.

The next line had been hard to read for Ruby, but she took a deep breath and summoned her willpower.

**_I barely remembered Mum, after all, and nothing could change the fact she was dead._**

"Well, except if your dad becomes the Eye of the Underworld's King." Jaz said with a small grin on her lips.

**_But I did keep the one picture. It was of Mum and me at our house in Los Angeles, just after I was born. She stood out on the balcony, the Pacific Ocean behind her, holding a wrinkled pudgy lump of baby that would some day grow up to be yours truly. Baby me was not much to look at,_**

Sadie flashed everyone a glare who looked about to snort at her comment.

**_but Mum was gorgeous, even in shorts and a tattered T-shirt._**

Ruby blushed at the compliment while Julius leaned closer to her.

"See, even our daughter is that option." he told his wife in a whisper which made her blush worsen.

**_Her eyes were deep blue. Her blond hair was clipped back. Her skin was perfect. Quite depressing compared to mine. People always say I look like her, but I couldn't even get the spot off my chin much less look so mature and beautiful._**

"Sadie, I think you are only setting an illusion in front of yourself, from what I have seen you are very much like your mother." Hatshepsut said kindly to the now blushing girl.

"Thank you." was the only thing she could bring out, who could blame her it was not everyday that an ancient and powerful queen compares you to your mother.

**_[Stop smirking, Carter.]_**

**_The photo fascinated me because I hardly remembered our lives together at all. But the main reason I'd kept the photo was because of the symbol on Mum's T-shirt: one of those life symbols—an ankh._**

**_My dead mother wearing the symbol for life. Nothing could've been sadder._**

No one commented at this.

**_But she smiled at the camera as if she knew a secret. As if my dad and she were sharing a private joke._**

Some people snorted at this.

"Now we are all kind of in one that joke." Felix said grinning while the others nodded their head in amusement.

**_Something tugged at the back of my mind. That stocky man in the trench coat_**

Both Amoses huffed at this while Sadie grinned at them innocently as Set snickered that it was now her Eye being annoyed because how the siblings refer to them.

**_who'd been arguing with Dad across the street—he'd said something about the Per Ankh._**

**_Had he meant _****_ankh_****_ as in the symbol for life, and if so, what was a _****_per_****_? I supposed he didn't mean pear as in the fruit._**

Many snickered at how ridiculous that would sound while Desjardins massaged his forehead and continued muttering in French.

**_I had an eerie feeling that if I saw the words _****_Per Ankh_****_ written in hieroglyphs, I would know what they meant._**

At this the siblings exchanged a look, she had known it when she had seen the hieroglyphs.

**_I put down the picture of Mum. I picked up a pencil and turned over one of my old homework papers. I wondered what happen if I tried to _****_draw_****_ the words _****_Per Ankh_****_. Would the right design just occur to me?_**

Many nodded their heads, mostly seeing that Sadie was the Scribe of Brooklyn House.

**_As I touched pencil to paper, my bedroom door opened. "Miss Kane?"_**

**_I whirled and dropped the pencil._**

**_A police inspector stood frowning in my doorway. "What are you doing?"_**

_"_**_Maths," I said._**

"Not bad." Thoth commented.

**_My ceiling was quite low, so the inspector had to stoop to come in. He wore a lint-colored suit that matched his gray hair and his ashen face. "Now then, Sadie. I'm Chief Inspector Williams. Let's have a chat, shall we? Sit down."_**

**_I didn't sit, and neither did he, which must've annoyed him. It's hard to look in charge when you're hunched over like Quasimodo._**

There were a good number of laughs at this while Tawaret took pity on the four people from the far past and explained to them what was so funny telepathically. It took a few minutes for everyone to calm down so that they could continue.

_**"**_**_Tell me everything, please," he said, "from the time your father came round to get you."_**

**_So I told him everything. Why not? His left eyebrow crept higher and higher as I told him the strange bits like the glowing letters and serpent staff._**

_**"**_**_Well, Sadie," Inspector Williams said. "You've got quite an imagination."_**

_**"**_**_I'm not lying, Inspector. And I think your eyebrow is trying to escape."_**

Cue more snorts.

**_He tried to look at his eyebrows, then scowled. "Now, Sadie, I'm sure this is very hard on you. I understand you want to protect your father's reputation. But he's gone now—"_**

_**"**_**_You mean through the floor in a coffin," I insisted. "He's _****_not_****_ dead."_**

Those from the past looked over at the older Julius.

"I'm the Eye of Osiris, I'm both death and alive." he told them at which he received many reluctant nods.

**_Inspector Williams spread his hands. "Sadie, I'm very sorry. But we must find out why he did this act of... well..."_**

_**"**_**_Act of _****_what_****_?"_**

**_He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Your father destroyed priceless artifacts and apparently killed himself in the process. We'd very much like to know why."_**

"Is he implying that you are a terrorist?" Ruby asked in a dangerous voice.

"Uhm…Ruby, think about Carter." Julius told his wife, this seemed to calm her somewhat while the Carter of the present looked a bit uncomfortable, he kind of forgot that his mom was currently pregnant with him, talk about awkward.

**_I stared at him. "Are you saying my father's a terrorist? Are you _****_mad_****_?"_**

"Like mother, like daughter."

_"_**_We've made calls to some of your father's associates. I understand his behavior had become erratic since your mother's death. He'd become withdrawn and obsessive in his studies, spending more and more time in Egypt—"_**

Ruby's tone become more and more dangerous with each word.

"I think it was a bad idea to let her have this chapter." Julius whispered to his brother who nodded.

_"_**_He's a bloody Egyptologist!_**

"Good Sadie." Ruby said not even commenting on her daughter's cussing, she would have done the same, beside punching that man.

**_You should be looking for him, not asking stupid questions!"_**

_**"**_**_Sadie," he said, and I could hear in his voice that he was resisting the urge to strangle me. Strangely, I get this a lot from adults._**

"Strangely?" asked those who knew her while her family from the past groaned.

_"_**_There are extremist groups in Egypt that object to Egyptian artifacts being kept in other countries' museums. These people might have approached your father. Perhaps in his state, your father became an easy target for them. If you've heard him mention any names—"_**

As Ruby read on were her husband and brother-in-law making plans how to get the book out of her hands before it catches fire from her glare, pregnancy hormones and lines which anger you were not a good combination.

**_I stormed past him to the window. I was so angry I could hardly think. I refused to believe Dad was dead._**

"And technically he is that only partly." Sadie said while her mother continued to fume.

**_No, no, no. And a terrorist? Please. Why did adults have to be so thick? They always say "tell the truth," and when you do, they don't believe you. What's the point?_**

"Because in our worlds is this more important then in the mortal one." Thoth said.

**_I stared down at the dark street. Suddenly that cold tingly feeling got worse than ever._**

"Sorry, this was when I finished settling in." Isis said while looking at Sadie.

"Ok, but there was no need to state it like I was some kind of a hotel or something." Sadie said while her fiends laughed a bit at her comment and the look Isis had on her face.

**_I focused on the dead tree where I'd met Dad earlier. Standing there now, in the dim light of a streetlamp, looking up at me, was the pudgy bloke_**

"Sorry." Sadie said again hurriedly, it seemed that she and Carter would be using this word pretty often during their reading as both versions of her uncle huffed, they were not pudgy.

"Don't worry I think you are fine." Set whispered to Amos, she should know seeing how he is still her Eye and after her head cleared out when her matting's session ended had she got a good view of him, after her panic drained down, when she noticed who that person was she had slept with. One freaks less out if it turns out to be a person they trust then a complete stranger.

**_in the black trench coat and the round glasses and the fedora—the man Dad had called Amos._**

**_I suppose I should've felt threatened by an odd man _**

Amos decide to just give it up, he had went over this already once.

**_staring up at me in the dark of night. But his expression was full of concern._**

"As your uncle and someone who knew at least somewhat what was going on was it only natural that I would worry about you two." older Amos said while both Ruby and Julius gave him thankful smiles.

**_And he looked _****_so_****_ familiar. It was driving me mad that I couldn't remember why._**

**_Behind me, the inspector cleared his throat. "Sadie, no one blames you for the attack on the museum. We understand you were dragged into this against your will."_**

**_I turned from the window. "Against my will? I chained the curator in his office."_**

There were again some people who either snorted or let out a laugh at this, even Ruby failed to look cross with her daughter seeing how she had developed a deep dislike for the inspector. The only ones not amused were the Fausts, Desjardins who was still thinking about the Rosetta Stone and Narmer.

**_The inspector's eyebrow started creep up again. "Be that as it may, surely you didn't understand what your father meant to do. Possibly your brother was involved?"_**

"Who does that man think he is?" Ruby asked testily, her good mood forgotten.

**_I snorted. "Carter? Please."_**

_"_**_So you are determined to protect him as well. You consider him a proper brother, do you?"_**

"I hope for him that he is not implying what I think he does." Ruby growled out as everyone gave the book dark looks.

"He will be sorry when I find him." Zia mumbled as Carter grabbed her before she throws a fireball at something.

"That mortal will soon face a nice surprise." Horus said with an evil grin on his lips, that mortal would pay for such an insult against his Eye if he had a word in this and as the King of Gods he certainly did.

"Am I really prohibited from killing?" Set asked Amos who had his hands belled into fists.

"As tempting it is, yes you still are not allowed to do that." he told Set and it really was not easy, he should have made that man walk into a few walls or trees, but alas he had not known about this comment back then.

It took everyone ten minutes to cool down their anger or stop voicing their outrage and for Ruby to continue in a venomous tone.

**_I couldn't believe it. I wanted to smack his face._**

"Thanks Sadie." Carter said with gritted teeth.

"Anytime, but I think it would have been better to kick him in the groin for that comment." she answered her brother.

"Agreed." Zia told her, she would have suggested flambéing, but one could not have anything.

**_"What's that supposed to mean? Because he doesn't _****_look_****_ like me?"_**

**_The inspector blinked. "I only meant—"_**

_"_**_I _****_know_****_ what you meant. Of course he's my brother!"_**

The siblings exchanged a small smile at this.

**_Inspector Williams held up his hands apologetically, but I was still seething. As much as Carter annoyed me, I hated it when people assumed we weren't related,_**

"Still do in the mortal world, the mythological one seems to grasp our relationship." Sadie said, there was no magician, even those who are still rebelling against them who doesn't recognise that they are brother and sister plus it seems that their allies will also have no problem understanding that.

**_or looked at my father askance when he said the three of us were a family—like we'd done something wrong._**

"You have done nothing wrong dear, only some people are to narrow minded." Rachel told to the blonde girl who nodded back at her while the others went back to mumbling in annoyance.

**_Stupid Dr. Mater at the museum. Inspector Williams. It happened every time Dad and Carter and I were together. _****_Every_****_ bloody time._**

"At least that had changed somewhat." Sadie said, but she still waited for this chapter to end, not that the next one was any better, but in that had luckily her uncle stepped in so that made things fine.

_"_**_I'm sorry, Sadie," the inspector said. "I only want to make sure we separate the innocent from the guilty. It will go much easier for everyone if you cooperate. Any information. Anything your father said. people he might've mentioned."_**

_"_**_Amos," I blurted out, just to see his reaction. "He met a man named Amos."_**

"Sorry uncle."

"Sadie, it is alright." Amos told his niece in a calm manner before signalling to Ruby that she can continue.

**_Inspector Williams sighed. "Sadie, he couldn't have done. Surely you know that. We spoke with Amos not one hour ago, on the phone from his home in New York."_**

The gazes of the past visitors turned to the man dressed in red who had a grin on his face while some of the initiates snickered.

"It had been hard to not let my amusement show when they thought that they were making an international call." he told them.

_**"**_**_He isn't in New York!" I insisted. "He's right—"_**

**_I glanced out the window and Amos was gone. Bloody typical._**

"And what does that mean?" Amos asked his niece, this comment had puzzled him by the first hearing and till now had he no answer for it.

"I'm not sure what I had meant at that time." Sadie admitted.

"Aha."

_"_**_That's not possible," I said._**

_"_**_Exactly," the inspector said._**

_"_**_But he was here!" I exclaimed. "Who _****_is_****_ he? One of Dad's colleagues? How did you know to call him?"_**

"I did a good pick." Set said in amusement while the younger Amos found himself blushing again against his will, why did the God need to look attractive in that female form.

"Now that he mentions it, uncle is kind of manipulative when he wants to be." Carter whispered to Sadie, Zia and Walt who nodded their heads in agreement.

"Well, Gods tend to pick people who have at least some traits similar to their aspects." Zia added in.

_"_**_Really, Sadie. This acting must stop."_**

_"_**_Acting_****_?"_**

**_The inspector studied me for a moment, then set his jaw as if he'd made a decision._**

Sadie looked over to her brother who understood the message and covered his ears, at least would Tawaret's magic keep himself, Zia and his unborn cousin safe from harm. The others looked at the siblings suspiciously before some of the initiates started growling as they remembered what was about to come and sure enough Ruby Kane let out a furious sound as she pushed the book into her brother-in-law's hands.

"You read this, then I'm only seconds away from tracing down this man and send him into the deepest part of the Duat." she growled out while placing both of her hands protectively on her baby rump.

Younger Amos looked a bit perplexed, but his eyes darkened when he saw what had enraged Ruby so much, but he grit his teeth together and continued.

_"_**_We've already had the truth from Carter. I didn't want to upset you, but he told us everything. He understands there's no point protecting your father now._**

One could hear a pin drop in the attic room before the enraged screaming and threatening broke out by those present, promising unimaginable horrors for the unsuspecting inspector. Set even made plans to talk with Hades to take a personal look at that guy when his time comes if he should belong into his juridicism.

After ten more minutes of yelling managed everyone to calm enough down so that Amos could continue seeing that Ruby was sure to rip the book apart if she received it again at the current time.

**_You might as well help us, and there will be no charges against you."_**

_"_**_You shouldn't lie to children!" I yelled, hoping my voice carried all the way downstairs._**

"It did," Carter said stiffly.

_"_**_Carter would never say a word against Dad, and neither will I!"_**

**_The inspector didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed._**

Cue growls and some not so nice comments in Ancient Egyptian, French and Alexandrian-Greek seeing how even Iskander and Desjardins had found the inspector's behaviour more then insulting.

**_He crossed his arms. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Sadie. I'm afraid it's time we went downstairs... to discuss consequences with your grandparents."_**

"This was the end of the chapter, I will continue with the next." younger Amos said as he flipped to the next page.

**_Kidnapped by a Not-So-Stranger_**

While some looked confused at this had those who knew it a hard time to not look at their Amos who was hiding an amused grin.

_To be continued…_


	4. Saved by our uncle

A/N: sorry if people are acting OOC, though Ruby, Rachel and Set are kind of allowed to do that with them being pregnant and don't forget godly pregnancies are unlike mortal ones.

* * *

IV. Saved by our uncle

"How can one be kidnapped by a not-so-stranger?" Amir asked in confusion as he looked at the group.

"Well, if one had at least some inkling who is kidnapping them, then they are not taken by a complete stranger." Desjardin said when he suddenly found himself fighting the urge to turn into the direction of either Amoses. '_Would you really risk everything you have worked so hard for to achieve for your brother?'_ he asked silently.

"I think we will know if Amos starts reading." Iskander spoke up kingly at which everyone nodded and went quiet.

**_I just love family meetings. Very cozy, with the Christmas garlands round the fireplace and a nice pot of tea and a detective from Scotland Yard ready to arrest._**

"Wow, you got the sarcasm pretty good down uncle Amos." Sadie said to the younger version of her uncle who blushed at both the compliment and about being addressed as 'uncle'.

"Amos had always had a sarcastic streak to him, it had been most of the time annoying." Julius said while his older self was sharing wide eyed looks with Osiris, both of them were kind of shocked.

"Wonderful." at this every head turned to Isis as she leaned back on her throne, one delicate hand covering her face.

"What is it Lady Isis?" Narmer asked the Goddess who only pointed with her free hand to where Set and Amos were sitting. "He and Set share a sarcastic personality which annoys their siblings." she groaned again while all eyes turned to the pair who looked smugly back at her.

"I will continue with the reading." younger Amos said hurriedly, his cheeks adorned by a new blush due to the comments which have fallen mare seconds ago.

**_Carter slumped on the sofa, cradling Dad's workbag. I wondered why the police had let him keep it. It should have been evidence or something, but the inspector didn't seem to notice it at all._**

**'****_Now I know.'_** Sadie thought happily as she resisted the urge to look at her uncle, while some of the others looked a bit confused, but this would be not the first time mortals completely missed a magician's bag.

**_Carter looked awful—I mean even worse than usual._**

"Sorry." Sadie told her brother who only smiled at her.

"This was seven years ago and since that have many things changed so it is fine." Carter told his sister who nodded back at him.

**_Honestly, the boy had never been in a proper school, and he dressed like a junior professor, with his khaki trousers and a button-down shirt and loafers. He's not bad looking, I suppose._**

Sadie tried not to groan, she knew that this stood in here, but till now had the initiates been considerate not to mention this and Carter had also dropped it because he was totally smitten with Zia. She had never wanted the Gods or the younger versions of her family to hear this. She wondered if the Muses were replaceable or better she will go after the one getting them into this situation that they need to do haste.

By the thrones felt Horus suddenly a cold shiver run up his spine and he had no clue from where it had come from seeing that Set was busy getting comfortable beside his Eye while looking intently at said host's younger version. Was it only him or looked the God kind of too content with the current placement? Sure he didn't complain and spent a good deal of time since they started reading whispering to the magician at her side, but still, there seemed to be something, but he had no clue what only that it will hurt him pretty bad when it becomes clear.

**_He's reasonably tall and fit and his hair isn't hopeless. He's got Dad's eyes, and my mates Liz and Emma have even told me from his picture that he's _****_hot_****_,_**

Carter, Walt, Anubis and Horus all shuddered as each of them remembered their last encounter with said pair of girls. Let's just say that it had involved much stuttering, failed flirting, spilled coke, two freaked out Gods hiding in their animal forms, screaming, Zia nearly teaching how spontaneous combustion feels like, an army of shabtti, Carter summoning his avatar and Sadie scolding and giving the '_hands-off'_ talk for three hours.

"I love them, but that was the last time I introduced them to guys from our world." Sadie said while she shuddered inwardly in terror at the memory, when her friends had seen last month when she visited them a photo about her uncle. She hoped that Set never hears that they have found her uncle good looking and wished to meet him, yes, no need to set the currently pregnant, even if it didn't show at the moment, God of Deserts, Storms, Chaos and Evil at them.

"You better." Zia growled while patting Carter on the back, the others only stared at them all, but when they didn't get an answer Amos continued.

**_which I must take with a grain of salt because (a) he's my brother, and (b) my mates are a bit crazed._**

**"****A ****_BIT_****?" Carter, Walt, Anubis and Horus asked with horrified voices as they stared at Sadie. **

"I wonder what happened?" Ruby mused while Desjardins leaned over to Amos.

"I hope that she doesn't find out, from those reactions I don't deduct anything good." he told the other who nodded his head in agreement to the other's sentiments.

**_When it came to clothes, Carter wouldn't have known _****_hot_****_ if it bit him on the bum._**

**_[Oh, don't look at me like that, Carter. You know it's _****_true_****_.]_**

"Huh, if I remember right have been I the one who suggested Carter's outfits." older Julius spoke up suddenly as he remembered this little fact, well one could excuse him that seeing that he had now a pretty tedious job.

"Julius, darling your dressing style had been in the option of most, not exactly counted as what normal teenagers would wear without long hours of threatening or bribing." Ruby told the older version of her husband who only huffed, just like his younger self.

**_At any rate, I shouldn't have been too hard on him._**

"Good." Ruby said nodding.

**_He was taking Dad's disappearance even worse than I was._**

No one commented while Carter ignored everyone.

**_Gran and Gramps sat on either side of him, looking quite nervous._**

Both siblings looked up at this and Sadie using their shared link thorough the knowledge of each others secret names did a quick question to her brother if the police made them sit there, but he answered back that he was not sure, they just sat suddenly down on each of his sides, he had been to deep in his thoughts.

At the same time had Ruby turned to her parents.

"At least you seem to give his support." she told her parents, it was not much, but at least they were close to her son who was now in dire need of his family, her hand went unconsciously to her belly.

**_The pot of tea and a plate of biscuits sat on the table, but no one was having any._**

Mrs. Faust bit back a groan, no one seemed to like her biscuits, the tea she could get people to drink, but the biscuits…till now had only one person touched those and if she had observed well enough will he soon be there. At least will he try to protect the children.

**_Chief Inspector Williams ordered me into the only free chair. Then he paced in front of the fireplace importantly._**

"Which he wasn't." said he four people who had been in that room meaning two godlings and their respective Gods.

**_Two more police stood by the front door—the woman from earlier and a big bloke who kept eyeing the biscuits._**

"They are not poisonous." Mrs. Faust huffed angrily while crossing her arms in front of her chest, of course her husband was doing his best to avoid looking at her.

_"_**_Mr. and Mrs. Faust," Inspector Williams said, "I'm afraid we have two uncooperative children."_**

**_Gran fidgeted with the trim of her dress. It's hard to believe she's related to Mum._**

"To my defence Gran, at that time had you and Gramps only shown me pictures which had mum on it, but before some years ago had I never seen a picture about you in your teen years." Sadie said when her grandmother looked at her, she now knew that her mum had inherited a great deal in looks from her own grandmother and some from Gran like the hair colour and such.

"I understand." Mrs. Faust replied to her granddaughter, she had no doubt that if they would loose Ruby that she and her husband would show their granddaughter pictures about her, but rarely something about other relatives, they really loved their child.

**_Gran is frail and colorless, like a stick person really, while Mum in the photos always looked so happy and full of life._**

"Age tends to make you that, mostly if you neglect your family inheritance because you wish for a normal life." Mrs. Faust said with a small smile, Ruby had kind of used a similar term to describe back then her own grandmother.

"We have learned." Sadie said while she tried not to look at the two past Chief Lectors and not to flinch about what will happen in the second book.

_"_**_They're just children," she managed. "Surely you can blame them."_**

"That was plural." Julius said in a stunned tone as he looked over at his mother-in-law, Ruby only beamed at her parents, maybe there was still a chance to warm them up to Carter when he is born.

"I just realized the same thing dad did." Carter whispered to the three people closest to him.

"Yes, I can't believe it, we have spoken it on record, but none of us remembered." Sadie said in a stunned tone, but was happy, sure she knew that the House had also their hand in their separation, but still.

_"_**_Pah_****_!" Gramps said. "This is ridiculous, Inspector. They aren't responsible!"_**

Ruby was now beaming at both her parents for defending not only Sadie, but also Carter.

**_Gramps is a former rugby player._**

Mr. Faust nodded at this, grinning he had always been proud about that.

**_He has beefy arms, a belly much too big for his shirt, and eyes sunk deep in his face, as if someone had punched them_**

Mr. Faust blinked at the description when suddenly Amos snorted and turned to his brother on the throne who had a suspicious feeling that he knew why his younger brother was amused and quickly asked Osiris to switch places.

**_(well, actually Dad _****_had_****_ punched them years ago, but that's another story)._**

"JULIUS KANE! YOU AND MY FATHER FOUGHT OUT A FIST FIGHT WHILE THE CHILDREN COULD SEE YOU!" Ruby screamed as she glared daggers at her covering husband seeing that she noticed how the older version had traded places with Osiris while a bit farther by the two armchairs was her mother busy berating her husband about his irresponsible behaviour.

"Amos, please read." Julius said hurriedly in hopes that Ruby would stop glaring at him, well Desjardins was actually kind of enjoying the sight of a squirming Julius Kane.

Taking pity on his brother Amos finally decided to continue.

**_Gramps is quite scary looking. Usually people got out of his way, but Inspector Williams didn't seem impressed._**

"Hmm…I wonder if Ares would be impressive enough for him or maybe his brother Hephaestus, but I wouldn't mind asking Sobeck to meet this guy." Set mused to himself while Amos shook his head, but at leas was he looking out for Carter and Sadie and not because he wanted to harm them.

_"_**_Mr. Faust," he said, "what do you imagine the morning headlines will read? 'British Museum attacked. Rosetta Stone destroyed.' Your son-in-law—"_**

_"_**_Former_****_ son-in-law," Gramps corrected._**

"Julius said that this was the correct term." Osiris said to the room while Mr. Faust looked a bit green that he had again agreed with his good-for-nothing-son-in-law.

"Great, the time you get to the same option is the time I'm dead." Ruby mumbled in annoyance while stroking her belly.

_"—_**_was most likely vaporized in the explosion, or he ran off, in which case—"_**

_"_**_He didn't run off!" I shouted._**

_"_**_We need to know where he is," the inspector continued. "And the only witnesses, your grandchildren, refuse to tell me the truth."_**

_"_**_We _****_did_****_ tell you the truth," Carter said. "Dad isn't dead. He sank through the floor."_**

Everyone nodded at this while Amos's face suddenly darkened, that inspector was really starting to get on his nerves.

**_Inspector Williams glanced at Gramps, as if to say, _****_There, you see?_****_ Then he turned to Carter. "Young man, your father has committed a criminal act. He's left you behind to deal with the consequences—"_**

"I would never do that willingly." Julius growled out while the others also glared at the book, even the Fausts who may not like the man their only child had married, but they knew that he would never abandon family out of his free will.

_"_**_That's not true!" I snapped, my voice trembling with rage. I couldn't believe Dad would intentionally leave us at the mercy of police, of course._**

"I would never." Julius confirmed.

**_But the idea of him abandoning me—well, as I might have mentioned, that's a bit of a sore point._**

_"_**_Dear, please," Gran told me, "the inspector is only doing his job."_**

_"_**_Badly!" I said._**

_"_**_Let's all have some tea," Gran suggested._**

_"_**_No!" Carter and I yelled at once, which made me feel bad for Gran,_**

"What is with most people and my tea, the biscuits should not even be mentioned." Mrs. Faust asked herself while staring out of the attic window while everyone who had once been faced by both of her works, well except three looked away into other directions.

**_as she practically wilted into the sofa._**

"At least you tried." Sadie said smiling sheepishly.

Amos started fuming again, but then he skipped fort a few lines and his whole posture relaxed, his scowl melting into a wicked grin which made some people shudder while those of this time looked together.

"And if we take into account that at this time around had he not even been near the Rosetta Stone or Set." Walt whispered to the others before they all turned to their right to look over at their Chief Lector who looked currently amused about something Set had whispered to him.

"Amos…are you alright?" Julius asked his brother carefully, that grin kind of creeped him out.

"I'm perfectly alright Julius." Amos replied pleasantly which made the people sitting beside him scoot a bit farther away.

"I think I'm starting to see why our younger brothers seem to be the perfect to fight together." Osiris whispered to his host, who gave him a careful nod.

"He is certainly made to follow the God of Evil." Narmer mumbled under his breath while Hatshepsut only shook her head towards the prince, that he should just ignore his brother.

"Uncle I think you should continue now." Carter called over and Amos nodded, he was certainly pleased how this chapter is continuing.

When he resumed reading again let the others out a sigh of relief.

_"_**_We _****_can_****_ charge you," the inspector warned, turning on me. "We can and we will—"_**

**_He froze. Then he blinked several times, as if he'd forgotten what he was doing._**

Everyone who didn't know started blinking at this.

"What happened?" Rachel asked curiously.

"You will all soon know." Amos replied grinning before continuing where he had left of.

**_Gramps frowned. "_****_Er_****_, Inspector?"_**

_"_**_Yes..." Chief Inspector Williams murmured dreamily. He reached in his pocket and took out a little blue booklet—an American passport. He threw it in Carter's lap._**

_"_**_You're being deported," the inspector announced. "You're to leave the country within twenty-four hours. If we need to question you further, you'll be contacted through the FBI."_**

**_Carter's mouth fell open. He looked at me, and I knew I wasn't imagining how odd this was._**

"We agree." chorused those who were still confused.

**_The inspector had completely changed direction. He'd been about to arrest us. I was sure of it. And then out of the blue, he was deporting Carter? Even the other police officers looked confused._**

_"_**_Sir?" the policewoman asked. "Are you sure—"_**

_"_**_Quiet, Linley. The two of you may go."_**

**_The cops hesitated until Williams made a shooing motion with his hand. Then they left, closing the door behind them._**

_"_**_Hold on," Carter said. "My father's disappeared, and you want me to leave the country?"_**

_"_**_Your father is either dead or a fugitive, son," the inspector said. "Deportation is the kindest option. It's already been arranged."_**

_"_**_With whom?" Gramps demanded. "Who authorized this?"_**

Again both Ruby and Julius turned to the Faust, they had not heard wrong that Mr. Faust had tried to find out who authorized Carter's deportation.

_"_**_With..." The inspector got that funny blank look again. "With the proper authorities. Believe me, it's better than prison."_**

"I was not in the mood to figure out which authorities he should name." Amos whispered to Set who nodded in understanding.

"You still did great with manipulating him." she replied back grinning, Amos was in her option really skilled with the manipulation of the mind, this is actually why she liked getting into verbal fights with him, they were fun and challenging.

"Thank you." he whispered back to her while gazing into those amber coloured eyes which reminded him on the colour of Egypt's endlessly seeming desert, it took him a great effort not to loose himself into them and to concentrate on the reading. Their strange acting with each other had started if he was honest with himself since they had met and on occasions was able to glimpse into the God's memories, then it went on after he decided to follow the Path of Set, - something which was starting to get abandoned since the Dynasty and then around the fully disappeared -, Set getting back at Ra's request and in got stronger since the backfired prank and them finding out about the pregnancy and deciding to keep the child. He was not sure what was causing it, in Set's case he knew that it were the hormones and mood swings which come with the pregnancy, but he had no excuse for himself, so he needed to figure out what was happening.

**_Carter looked too devastated to speak, but before I could feel sorry for him, Inspector Williams turned to me. "You, too, miss."_**

**_He might as well have hit me with a sledgehammer._**

_"_**_You're deporting _****_me_****_?" I asked. "I live here!"_**

"Thought you were still an American citizen because of the place you have been born." Alyssa said to Sadie who nodded at the girl.

"At that time I didn't think about that." she replied back kindly.

_"_**_You're an American citizen. And under the circumstances, it's best for you to return home."_**

**_I just stared at him. I couldn't remember any home except this flat. My mates at school, my room, _****_everything_****_ I knew was here. "Where am I supposed to go?"_**

"To one of the greatest places that exist." Sadie said, she loved Brooklyn House with all her heart, it was her home.

_"_**_Inspector," Gran said, her voice trembling. "This isn't fair. I can't believe—"_**

_"_**_I'll give you some time to say good-bye," the inspector interrupted. Then he frowned as if baffled by his own actions. "I—I must be going."_**

"He was stubborn." Amos whispered to the God at his side.

"Probably not as stubborn as you Kanes." Set replied to him.

"We are hard to match." Amos admitted.

**_This made no sense, and the inspector seemed to realize it, but he walked to the front door anyway. When he opened it, I almost jumped out of my chair, because the man in black, Amos, was standing there. He'd lost his trench coat and hat somewhere, but was still wearing the same pinstripe suit and round glasses. His braided hair glittered with gold beads._**

Everyone turned respectably towards both age versions of said man who kind of wore the same outfit, but differing in colours seeing how the older was dressed in red with small rubies braided into his hair while the other wore blue with lapis lazuli in his hair.

"Not much changed, only that he has now always something red with himself." Sean whispered to the others on he matt who nodded.

**_I thought the inspector would say something, or express surprise, but he didn't even acknowledge Amos. He walked right past him and into the night._**

Now everyone was getting it.

"You manipulated his mind?" Ruby asked in surprise.

"Amos had always shown a good skill at being persuasive and to know how to manipulate the minds of others." Iskander said as he gazed at the young man and then at his older self. _'I should have realized that even thought the House of Life had turned their back to the Gods that for some of us is the only chance to show our true power is when we join with them again. It seems that the path of your family had been set already at that time you two come to the First Nome to train.'_

"And we see where that had ended." Desjardins mumbled bitterly, if nothing else he had preferred the younger Kane over the older, but now that he was so obviously following a dangerous path with chaos at his side.

"At least is the inspector gone." Amos replied and went back to reading, the chapter would be soon over anyway.

**_Amos came inside and closed the door. Gran and Gramps stood up._**

_"_**_You," Gramps growled. "I should've known. If I was younger, I would beat you to a pulp."_**

Set turned her head to the side to fixate her gaze on Mr. Faust who flinched at this.

_"_**_Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Faust," Amos said. He looked at Carter and me as if we were problems to be solved._**

"Looking back at it, technically we kind of were." Carter said while rubbing the back of his head.

_"_**_It's time we had a talk."_**

**_Amos made himself right at home. He flopped onto the sofa and poured himself tea. He munched on a biscuit, which was quite dangerous, because Gran's biscuits are horrid._**

"I don't mind them." both Amoses replied with a shrug.

"He is the only one who eats them out of his free will." Mrs. Faust said while shaking her head.

"There is nothing bad in liking sweets." Set replied, he had noticed already by his first possession that Amos and his shared a similar fondness for sweets, biscuits and cookies included, the late treat bringing a small smile to her lips.

**_I thought Gramps's head would explode. His face went bright red. He came up behind Amos and raised his hand as if he were about to smack him,_**

Mr. Faust covered in his chair when he heard the feral like growl emitting from the throat of the woman sitting beside the older version of his son-in-law's brother, who was busy calming her down for which he was thankful. If that woman was really the same as the man made out of living flames, then he didn't want to be attacked by her.

**_but Amos kept munching his biscuits._**

_"_**_Please, sit down," he told us._**

**_And we all sat. It was the strangest thing—as if we'd been waiting for his order._**

"Amos, don't manipulate the mind of my parents and children." Ruby chided, but she was impressed, before this had she not known that Amos could do this.

"Sorry." come the reply.

**_Even Gramps dropped his hand and moved round the sofa. He sat next to Amos with a disgusted sigh._**

"I can imagine." Mr. Faust whispered, hoping that he would not be heard, the growl indicated otherwise.

**_Amos sipped his tea and regarded me with some displeasure. That wasn't fair, I thought. I didn't look _****_that_****_ bad, considering what we'd been through. Then he looked at Carter and grunted._**

"To answer your question Sadie, yes you two did look that bad and I was looking at you first because you sat the closest." Amos replied to his niece.

_"_**_Terrible timing," he muttered. "But there's no other way. They'll have to come with me."_**

_"_**_Excuse me?" I said. "I'm not going anywhere with some strange man with biscuit on his face!"_**

There were a good deal of snorts at this and this time both Amoses allowed themselves to look slightly embarrassed.

"I think that might have looked adorable." Set whispered into his ear which made Amos wonder how fast the pregnancy is truly going on in Set, he would need to talk with Tawaret.

**_He did in fact have biscuit crumbs on his face, but he apparently didn't care, as he didn't bother to check._**

"At that time, both." was his reply.

_"_**_I'm no stranger, Sadie," he said. "Don't you remember?"_****_it was creepy hearing him talk to me in such a familiar way. I felt like I _****_should_****_ know him. I looked at Carter, but he seemed just as mystified as I was._**

_"_**_No, Amos," Gran said, trembling. "You can't take Sadie._**

"Huh?" at the surprised sound of Amos stopped Ruby in mid turn to lecture her parents about how they were acting again.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Things are getting strange." was his only reply.

**_We had an agreement."_**

"What?" asked many in confusion.

_"_**_Julius broke that agreement tonight," Amos said. "You know you can't care for Sadie anymore—not after what's happened. Their only chance is to come with me."_**

_"_**_Why should we go anywhere with you?" Carter asked. "You almost got in a fight with Dad!"_**

**_Amos looked at the workbag in Carter's lap. "I see you kept your father's bag. That's good. You'll need it. As for getting into fights, Julius and I did that quite a lot._**

Both age versions of the brothers nodded at this in agreement.

**_If you didn't notice, Carter, I was trying to _****_stop_****_ him from doing something rash. If he'd listened to me, we wouldn't be in this situation."_**

**_I had no idea what he was on about, but Gramps apparently understood._**

_"_**_You and your superstitions!" he said. "I told you we want none of it."_**

"Apparently that will not interest anyone." Mr. Faust mumbled not even knowing how right he will be proven in the second book.

**_Amos pointed to the back patio. Through the glass doors, you could see the lights shining on the Thames. It was quite a nice view at night, when you couldn't notice how run-down some of the buildings were._**

_"_**_Superstition, is it?" Amos asked. "And yet you found a place to live on the _****_east_****_ bank of the river."_**

**_Gramps turned even redder. "That was Ruby's idea. Thought it would protect us._**

"Physically it protect you for a pretty long time." Sadie told her grandparents, still trying not to remember how they got possessed in the second book.

**_But she was wrong about many things, wasn't she? She trusted Julius and you, for one!"_**

**_Amos looked unfazed. He smelled interesting—like old-timey spices, copal and amber,_**

"It kind of reminds me of my temples." Set whispered to Amos who gently took her hand into his, he knew that Set had taken it as a really painful slap in the face when her temples got destroyed and abandoned.

**_like the incense shops in Convent Garden._**

**_He finished his tea and looked straight at Gran._**

"Because I knew that she would understand it better." Amos admitted while Mrs. Faust bowed her head, she knew that he was right.

**_"Mrs. Faust, you know what's begun. The police are the least of your worries."_**

**_Gran swallowed. "You... _****_you_****_ changed that inspector's mind. You made him deport Sadie."_**

_"_**_It was that or see the children arrested," Amos said._**

_"_**_Hang on," I said. "You _****_changed_****_ Inspector Williams's mind? How?"_**

"Now we know." the siblings said grinning.

**_Amos shrugged. "It's not permanent. In fact we should get to New York in the next_****_hour or so before Inspector Williams begins to wonder why he let you go."_**

"I have kind of left a shabtti behind to see his reaction, it was amusing." Amos admitted while beside him Set chuckled, it certainly had been, mostly when his colleagues suggested that he might be overworked and offered to drive him home.

"Why am I not surprised that Set was attracted to him as a potential host?" Isis mumbled to herself before flinching when this time around she had been the one to receive a kick in the shin by her sister.

**_Carter laughed incredulously. "You can't get to New York from London in a hour. Not even the fastest plane—"_**

_"_**_No," Amos agreed. "Not a plane." He turned back to Gran as if everything had been settled. "Mrs. Faust, Carter and Sadie have only one safe option. You know that. They'll come to the mansion in Brooklyn. I can protect them there."_**

_"_**_You've got a mansion," Carter said. "In Brooklyn."_**

**_Amos gave him an amused smile. "The family mansion. You'll be safe there."_**

No one liked how suddenly everyone from the present, Gods included started avoiding everyone's eyes, but they knew that asking would be futile, they will need to read the answers, literally.

_"_**_But our dad—"_**

_"_**_Is beyond your help for now," Amos said sadly. "I'm sorry, Carter. I'll explain later, but Julius would want you to be safe. _**

Both versions of said man nodded in agreement.

**_For that, we must move quickly. I'm afraid I'm all you've got."_**

**_That was a bit harsh, I thought. Carter looked at Gran and Gramps. Then he nodded glumly. He knew that they didn't want him around. He'd always reminded them of our dad._**

Ruby started mumbling under her breath again while her parents squirmed in their seats.

**_And yes, it was a stupid reason not to take in your grandson, but there you are._**

**"****Yes, yes, yes it is a stupid reason." Ruby said with her hands around her stomach. **

_"_**_Well, Carter can do what he wants," I said. "But _****_I live here_****_. And I'm not going off with some stranger, am I?"_**

**_I looked at Gran for support, but she was staring at the lace doilies on the table as if they were suddenly quite interesting._**

_"_**_Gramps, surely..."_**

**_But he wouldn't meet my eyes either. He turned to Amos. "You can get them out of the country?"_**

"Ah, he used a plural term again." Anubis noted which calmed Ruby somewhat, looks as if she and Julius would need to spend more time with her parents that they can get accustomed to Carter.

_"_**_Hang on!" I protested._**

**_Amos stood and wiped the crumbs off his jacket. He walked to the patio doors and stared out at the river. "The police will be back soon. Tell them anything you like. They won't find us."_**

_"_**_You're going to _****_kidnap_****_ us?" I asked, stunned. I looked at Carter. "Do you believe this?"_**

"If one goes willingly then it is not a kidnapping." Anubis said nonchalantly.

**_Carter shouldered the workbag. Then he stood like he was ready to go. Possibly he just wanted to be out of Gran and Gramps's flat._**

Carter only signaled for his uncle to read.

_"_**_How do you plan to get to New York in an hour?" he asked Amos. "You said, not a plane."_**

_"_**_No," Amos agreed. He put his finger to the window and traced something in the condensation—another bloody hieroglyph._**

_"_**_A boat," I said—then realized I'd translated aloud, which I wasn't suppose to be able to do._**

**_Amos peered at me over the top of his round glasses. "How did you—"_**

_"_**_I mean that last bit looks like a boat," I blurted out._**

"One could see that you have translated it." Carter told his sister who scowled at him.

_"_**_But that can't be what you mean. That's ridiculous."_**

_"_**_Look!" Carter cried._**

**_I pressed in next to him at the patios doors. Down at the quayside, a boat was docked. But not a regular boat, mind you. It was an Egyptian reed boat, with two torches burning in the front, and a big rudder in the back. _**

"It is my favourite boat." Amos said while Set nodded, it had reminded her on Ra's boat.

"Certainly safer then the _Egyptian Queen _had been." Carter whispered to his sister who nodded.

**_A figure in a black trench coat and hat—possibly Amos's—stood at the tiller._**

**_I'll admit, for once, I was at a loss for words._**

_"_**_We're going in that," Carter said. "To Brooklyn."_**

_"_**_We'd better get started," Amos said._**

**_I whirled back to my grandmother. "Gran, please!"_**

**_She brushed a tear from her cheek. "It's for the best, my dear. You should take Muffin."_**

_"_**_Ah, yes," Amos said. "We can't forget the cat."_**

**_He turned towards the stairs. As if on cue, Muffin raced down in a leopard-spotted streak and leaped into my arms. She _****_never_****_ does that._**

_"_**_Who are you?" I asked Amos. It was clear I was running out of options, but I at least wanted answers. "We can't just go off with some stranger."_**

_"_**_I'm not a stranger." Amos smiled at me. "I'm family."_**

"That is for sure." the Kane siblings replied happily which made her uncle smile at them fondly.

**_And suddenly I remembered his face smiling down at me, saying, "Happy birthday, Sadie." A memory so distant, I'd almost forgotten._**

_"_**_Uncle Amos?" I asked hazily._**

_"_**_That's right, Sadie," he said. "I'm Julius's brother. Now come along. We have a long way to go."_**

"This was the end of the chapter, who would like to read next?" Amos asked.

"I may try." Ramses said as he stood up and retrieved the book.

_To be continued…_


	5. We're home

V. We're home

After sitting back down beside his fellow rulers looked Ramses down at the title of the next chapter, he was eager to know more about what stands further in these books made at the threshold of the new age. No matter if they were good or bad seeing that with the fact of how the people of this time acted seem things to have tuned out for the best in the end. Beside that, was this better then trying to get out of the way of his councillors who gave him the scary thought that they never slept or ate, plus trying to deal with family matters beside his kingdom. Being a pharaoh was a hard fulltime job, so a bit of vacation was not bad, he knew that the others can survive without him for a short while, his heir may even benefit from his absence.

"It seems that we are going back to Carter again." Ramses said to the room before continuing.

"Meaning that each of them has two chapters." Ruby said, even if she didn't like most things they had read so far, having the chance to hear about your future children made a mother happy.

_"_**_We Meet the Monkey_**_,"_

"Ah, so you made good of your plan then?" Julius asked his brother as he remembered how Amos had told him last week that he intended to get a baby baboon.

"I don't know why the title would be this if not for the case." Amos answered, but still looked over at his older self to make sure, the nod was all he needed.

**_It's Carter again. Sorry. We had to turn off the tape for a while because we were being followed by—well, we'll get to that later._**

"Followed by what?" Ruby asked as she looked over at her children, worry evident in her voice.

"Erm…you will know soon." Carter replied carefully after exchanging a glance with Sadie.

"Why am I sure that I will not like it." Ruby told herself while stroking over her belly.

**_Sadie was telling you how we left London, right?_**

Everyone nodded.

**_So anyway, we followed Amos down to the weird boat docked at the quayside._**

"Sorry, I take it back it is certainly a better boat then the one I had the unfortunate to be on more then once." Carter said defensively, mostly after having been also on the Sun Boat.

"Which boat do you mean?" Julius asked his son who only motioned to Ramses to continue.

**_I cradled Dad's workbag under my arm. I still couldn't believe he was gone._**

"I'm sorry Carter." older Julius said while looking at his son, he didn't mean to make Carter worry so much.

"You don't have to be sorry for anything, the one to blame is someone else." Isis said as she looked eyes with Set who was glaring back at her.

"I think you are looking at the wrong person Isis, you were the one who started Set on this path for revenge." come it suddenly from Zia who had seen a nice deal of Ra's memories, that of the Goddess's trickery included, so she kind of felt tired by her shifting the blame on her brother.

"I did not." Isis defended herself, but she could feel Osiris's gaze on her before he spoke up.

"You know that she is right Isis, you can't win this argument so please cease it and let pharaoh Ramses continue with the book." Osiris said after switching with Julius for a few seconds so that he could talk with his wife.

"Fine." she said finally and rested her back against the headboard of her throne while the Rashids looked with surprised eyes at their daughter that she had spoken up in the defence of the Desert God who gave her a small smile which she returned.

"I wonder what is behind it that the people here are so content with having a Deity of Chaos in their midst." Hatshepsut whispered to Ramses, she was curious then even if people still carried the 'wass' as a symbol of strength and power, there were only few who looked at the Red Lord with respect then fear.

"We might know from the books." Ramses replied, he also wished to know so he continued reading.

**_I felt guilty leaving London without him,_**

"Technically, he was at that time already close to the States." Set said in a thoughtful tone as she tried to remember when she moved her and Amos's brother from London.

**_but I believed Amos about one thing: right now Dad was beyond our help. I didn't trust Amos,_**

"That was only for a really short time because I didn't remember who he was and I still wanted to know what had happened to dad and what all that we have seen was about." Carter said to the attic room and mostly to the younger version of his father who looked about to question him.

"Also, it would not be good if the Pharaoh didn't trust his Chief Lector." Walt whispered to Carter who gave him a small nod, which would really be a bad thing seeing that the Chief Lector was both the advisor and protector of the Pharaoh.

**_but I figured if I wanted to find out what had happened to Dad, I was going to have to go along with him. He was the only one who seemed to know anything._**

"Which would have been good if it weren't the case." older Amos said as he looked at his brother seated on the throne.

"I know, I should have at least explained a few things to the children or at least Carter." Julius told his brother, he wondered if he would have that then would have been there a chance that the children figure out sooner that something was wrong and his brother would not have ended up hurting himself so badly.

"Why do I not like the feeling that there is something behind these two sentences which we don't grasp at the moment." Ruby whispered to both brothers who were watching the exchange between their older selves.

"Because it will be something neither of us likes." Amos said, but didn't voice that he had a worrisome feeling that it had something to do with him and the God sitting at this side.

**_Amos stepped aboard the reed boat. Sadie jumped right on, but I hesitated. I'd seen boats like this on the Nile before, and they never seemed very sturdy._**

**_It was basically woven together from coils of plant fiber—like a giant floating rug. I figured the torches at the front couldn't be a good idea, because if we didn't sink, we'd burn. _**

"I didn't know that magic was involved at that time." Carter defended himself, he was certain that he will do that a good few times during these books.

**_At the back, the tiller was manned by a little guy wearing Amos's black trench coat and hat. The hat was shoved down on his head so I couldn't see his face. His hands and feet were lost in the folds of the coat._**

"Which was a good thing or we would have freaked out." Sadie admitted, now that she had seen boats being managed by small balls of light she was fine with it, but if faced with that without knowing what you are…

_"_**_How does this thing move?" I asked Amos. "You've got no sail."_**

_"_**_Trust me." Amos offered me a hand._**

**_The night was cold, but when I stepped on board I suddenly felt warmer, as if the torchlight were casting a protective glow over us._**

"It does." come several replies.

**_In the middle of the boat was a hut made from woven mats. From Sadie's arms, Muffin sniffed at it and growled._**

At this the siblings turned to their uncle, they had never found out what Bast's problem had been at that time.

"Bad memory." Set replied for Amos, it had to do with one of Apophis's attacks with which he had managed to drag her under. That encounter had almost ended badly had he not managed to get his staff buried between two scales of Apophis while Ra got her out of the water before they passed the gate to the Fifth House.

_"_**_Take a seat inside," Amos suggested. "The trip might be a little rough."_**

"Understatement." Sadie said.

"Still better then running away from an axe headed demon out for your blood thanks to Setne." Carter whispered to the others, he didn't look forth to the time his parents hear about that one.

"Yes, in your desperate lover moment have you made a stupid mistake to allow uncle Vinnie to give an order to him." Sadie whispered back, she was still partly angry at both the ghost and at her brother.

"I agree with Sadie." Zia told her boyfriend who nodded his head.

_"_**_I'll stand, thanks."_**

"It was idiotic to say that." Sadie groaned.

**_Sadie nodded at the little guy in back. "Who's your driver?"_**

**_Amos acted as if he hadn't heard the question. "Hang on, everyone!" He nodded to the steersman, and the boat lurched forward._**

**_The feeling was hard to describe. You know that tingle in the pit of your stomach when you're on a roller coaster and it goes into free fall?_**

A good deal of people nodded while those from the antique looked perplexed.

**_It was kind of like that, except we weren't falling, and the feeling didn't go away. The boat moved with astounding speed. The lights of the city blurred, then were swallowed in a thick fog. Strange sounds echoed in the dark: slithering and hissing,_**

The faces of those from the present darkened while Set let out a hateful growl as Amos pulled her closer in a protective manner, it had been purely instinct to show that he was there for both his unborn child and the one carrying it.

**_distant screams, voiced whispering in languages I didn't understand._**

**_The tingling turned to nausea. The sounds got louder, until I was about to scream myself. Then suddenly the boat slowed. The noises stopped, and the fog dissipated. City lights came back, brighter than before._**

The others have also relaxed again and Amos lessened his hold on Set as he noticed what he was doing, luckily had only his ancestor's brother and Tawaret seen them, booth giving him a small smile which made him a bit embarrassed, Set only looked at him in confusion.

"I think that may be slightly like Shadow travel the creatures and Lord Hades's family can do, only without a boat and they literally travel through the shadows and not the upper layer of the Duat." Anubis spoke up as he remembered his chat with Nico di Angelo last month as he come over to his father with a message from their Underworld. It still kind of freaked him out how much the demigod resembled his human form, it was quiet unsettling to say at least and it also kind of made him wonder how his father may have felt when first meeting the other seeing how Nico seemed really close to his father. Something which Anubis had never been in all of his five thousand years of existence.

**_Above us loomed a bridge, much taller than any bridge in London. My stomach did a slow roll. To the left, I saw a familiar skyline—the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building._**

"You mean Olymphos dear brother." Sadie said jokingly.

"Well at that time I thought that myths were really myths and not part of my everyday life." Carter answered back as their initiates laughed at their leaders.

_"_**_Impossible," I said. "That's New York."_**

**_Sadie looked as green as I felt. She was still cradling Muffin, whose eyes were closed. The cat seemed to be purring._**

"She and Amos were the only ones who had liked that ride." Sadie said, she still left out Duat travel whenever possible and preferred portals.

**_"It can't be," Sadie said. "We only traveled a few minutes."_**

**_And yet here we were, sailing up the East River, right under the Williamsburg Bridge. _**

Set shifted a bit in her seat which didn't go unnoticed by the others so she decided to elaborate.

"What the Battle of Manhattan broke out was this the bridge on which the Titan Lord Kronos himself appeared, one of his man had almost given one of Athena's daughters a fatal injury as she protected her now fiancée. Also when the bridge had come crashing down to let the East River drown the monsters still on it had one of Apollo's kids lost his life because he was the one triggering the process to bring it down. Believe me, it was not pretty how he looked when his siblings found him." she finished and many others flinched at this while the magicians of the present exchanged knowing glances, they all had been through horrible battles and had lost to many loved ones.

**_We glided to a stop next to a small dock on the Brooklyn side of the river. In front of us was an industrial yard filled with piles of scrap metal and old construction equipment. In the center of it all, right at the water's edge, rose a huge factory warehouse heavily painted with graffiti, the windows boarded up._**

_"_**_That is not a mansion," Sadie said. _**

"I did not know that I should look at the top of it." Sadie defended herself before adding "the mist can be annoying."

"Mist?" Desjardins asked in confusion.

"This is what our allies call the magic that hides our world from the mortals, it is kind of a fitting name." Cleo explained as the others nodded, the name had really something to it.

**_Her powers of perception are really amazing._**

"Was that sarcasm dear brother?" Sadie asked Carter who only smirked at her in reply.

_"_**_Look again." Amos pointed to the top of the building._**

_"_**_How... how did you..." My voice failed me. I wasn't sure why I hadn't seen it before, but now it was obvious: a five-story mansion perched on the roof of the warehouse, like another layer of a cake. _**

"Is this where we currently are?" Ashkender asked those of the present who nodded in confirmation.

**_"You couldn't build a mansion up there!"_**

"I was young back then, had no clue what was going on, now I think that the view is pretty nice from here." Carter said.

_"_**_Long story," Amos said. "But we needed a private location."_**

_"_**_And is this the east shore?" Sadie asked. "You said something about that in London—my grandparents living on the east shore."_**

**_Amos smiled. "Yes. Very good, Sadie. In ancient times, the east bank of the Nile was always the side of the living, the side where the sun rises. The dead were buried west of the river. It was considered bad luck, even dangerous, to live there. The tradition is still strong among... our people."_**

_"_**_Our people?" I asked, but Sadie muscled in with another question._**

_"_**_So you can't live in Manhattan?" she asked._**

**_Amos's brow furrowed as he looked across at the Empire State Building. "Manhattan has other problems. Other gods._**

"They certainly have they own problems there with two megalomaniac relatives wanting to destroy the whole of Western Civilization and thus humanity." Carter said, he only knew bits about what those on the other side went through, but looking at the worlds they live in was he sure that they were not a laughing matter.

"Were those things really bad to that extreme?" younger Julius asked curiously.

"Let's just say that we can be happy that our father is a decent God." Nephthys said, she shuddered at the thought of being eaten right after being born.

"To the four of you." Set mumbled bitterly, but Amos still heard her and took her hand into his.

**_It's best we stay separate."_**

"Which option I have long since taken back." older Amos said, if things were true and he had not doubt that they were, then one day would a danger arise when all parts of the next great prophecy come to surface. Egyptian and the Greco-Roman Gods, their children and the House of Life will need each other to survive the war which will be upon them.

_"_**_Other _****_what_****_?" Sadie demanded._**

"Gods of course." Jaz said with a small laugh while Sadie play-pouted at her.

_"_**_Nothing." Amos walked past us to the steersman. He plucked off the man's hat and coat—and there was no one underneath. The steersman simply wasn't there. Amos put on his fedora, folded his coat over his arm, then waved toward a metal staircase that wound all the way up the side of the warehouse to the mansion on the roof._**

_"_**_All ashore," he said. "And welcome to the Twenty-first Nome."_**

"But…" Ramses started perplexed, after his knowledge was the Twenty-first in Atef-pehu.

"It will be explained shortly in the book." Sean told the older man who nodded his head and continued…that is till he looked up again at Carter.

"I know, I misunderstood." he said much to the confusion of their visitors and to the amusement of those from his time.

_"_**_Gnome?"_**

"I stand by my above made comment." the Pharaoh of the current time said while avoiding everyone's gazes.

**_I asked, as we followed him up the stairs. "Like those little runty guys?"_**

_"_**_Heavens, no," Amos said. "I hate gnomes. They smell horrible."_**

"You are still sore about that accident?" both Juliuses asked their respective younger brothers who only glowered at them.

"Yes they do." replied both Set and Ruby at the same time which earned them a good deal of shocked looks, but they ignored them.

_"_**_But you said—"_**

_"_**_Nome_****_, n-o-m-e. As in a district, a region. The term is from ancient times, when Egypt was divided into forty-two provinces. Today, the system is a little different. _**

Here Ramses stopped a bit as he gaped at the book, but continued when noticing the questioning gazes of those sitting with him.

**_We've gone global. The world is divided into three hundred and sixty nomes._**

"What!" gasped the shocked visitors from the past.

"It had become necessary." Iskander told the past rulers, who nodded their heads reluctantly, this was still a bit hard to take in.

**_Egypt, of course, is the First. Greater New York is the Twenty-first."_**

**_Sadie glanced at me and twirled her finger around her temple._**

_"_**_No, Sadie," Amos said without looking back._**

"Busted." a few people snickered.

"Not that people don't think that I have gone mad." older Amos said as he looked over at Set who grinned back at him, making it clear why some people thought that.

"Personally I agree with those people, only a madman would follow a vile God." Narmer mumbled under his breath, his brother had decided to just ignore him.

_"_**_I'm not crazy. There's much you need to learn."_**

**_We reached the top of the stairs. Looking up at the mansion, it was hard to understand what I was seeing. The house was at least fifty feet tall, built of enormous limestone blocks and steel-framed windows. There were hieroglyphs engraved around the windows, and the walls were lit up so the place looked like a cross between a modern museum and an ancient temple. But the weirdest thing was that if I glanced away, the whole building seemed to disappear. I tried it several times just to be sure. If I looked for the mansion from the corner of my eye, it wasn't there. I had to force my eyes to refocus on it, and even that took a lot of willpower._**

**_Amos stopped before the entrance, which was the size of a garage door—a dark heavy square of timber with no visible handle or lock. "Carter, after you."_**

_"_**_Um, how do I—"_**

_"_**_How do you think?"_**

**_Great, another mystery. I was about to suggest we ram Amos's head against it and see if that worked._**

There were a good few laughs at this while Carter held up his hands in defence when Set turned to him with narrowed eyes.

**_Then I looked at the door again, and I had the strangest feeling. I stretched out my arm. Slowly, without touching the door, I raised my hand and the door followed my movement—sliding upward until it disappeared into the ceiling._**

"That was really impressive for a first try." Julius said proudly to his son before glancing at his wife.

**_Sadie looked stunned. "How..."_**

_"_**_I don't know," I admitted, a little embarrassed. "Motion sensor, maybe?"_**

_"_**_Interesting." Amos sounded a little troubled. "Not the way I would've done it, but very good. Remarkably good."_**

"It is kind of a splitting in two and sliding to the side type of door most of the time, this was the first time someone sent it upwards." younger Amos explained, hoping that there were no complications in the opening spells afterwards, while the others nodded in understanding.

_"_**_Thanks, I think."_**

**_Sadie tried to go inside first, but as soon as she stepped on the threshold, Muffin wailed and almost clawed her way out of Sadie's arms._**

"What is the cat's problem now?" Amir asked, he really could not understand that animal, it certainly acted strange while by the thrones looked Thoth sheepish.

**_Sadie stumbled backward. "What was that about, cat?"_**

_"_**_Oh, of course," Amos said. "My apologies." He put his hand on the cat's head and said, very formally, "You may enter."_**

_"_**_The cat needs permission?" I asked._**

Iskander looked thoughtful at this before his eyes widened for a few seconds, so it seems that the puzzle pieces start adding up.

_"_**_Special circumstances," Amos said, which wasn't much of an explanation, but he walked inside without saying another word. We followed, and this time Muffin stayed quiet._**

_"_**_Oh my god..." Sadie's jaw dropped. _**

"I know, it needs to be in plural." Sadie said.

**_She craned her neck to look at ceiling, and I thought the gum might fall out of her mouth._**

_"_**_Yes," Amos said. "This is the Great Room."_**

**_I could see why he called it that. The cedar-beamed ceiling was four stories high, held up by carved stone pillars engraved with hieroglyphs. A weird assortment of musical instruments and Ancient Egyptian weapons decorated the walls. Three levels of balconies ringed the room, with rows of doors all looking out on the main area. The fireplace was big enough to park a car in, with a plasma-screen TV above the mantel and massive leather sofas on either side. On the floor was a snakeskin rug, except it was forty feet long and fifteen feet wide—bigger than any snake._**

At this turned everyone over to Set who had a frightening grin on her face while Amos also looked kind of pleased.

"Uh…that is…" Carter tried to say, he had always wondered, and after seeing Apophis in life…

"Apophis was not pleased when I peeled that skin off of him, but he should have expected it." Set said, her tone thought had beside triumph and satisfaction a strange, unsettling undertone to it, but they didn't know why. "I gave it to the original Twenty-First Nome which had been at that time in Upper Egypt, it was a type of '_thank you_' present for the service they had done for both Lord Ra and me." she finished while everyone stared wide eyed at her, well beside the man sitting beside her.

"You mean to say that it was from you." younger Amos said in surprise, the former head of Brooklyn House told him that the documents how the snake-skin rug had come into the possession of the original Twenty-First Nome had been destroyed when it got hidden away by the priests and later brought again to daylight when they moved to the States.

"Yep, I saw it as a fitting present." Set said, her tone still held that strange ring to it, also the fact that older Amos looked kind of worriedly at her didn't make anyone feel better.

"We can continue now that the rug's history got cleared up now." older Amos said suddenly, his tone indicating that this was _not_ a suggestion.

"I'm not sure that Apophis had liked it to get so much of his skin ripped down." Walt whispered to the others before they all turned to Zia.

"Do you know what they did for both Ra and Set?" Sadie asked seeing how the Sun God had allowed Zia to view a good deal of his memories.

"No, these were memories which he asked me not to look at, he didn't tell me why, but I saw both immense grief and hate in his eyes at that time." Zia replied back, whatever had happened by which the original Twenty-First Nome had helped her Lord and Set must have been terrible if the echo of it could be still noted in both of the Gods.

**_Outside, through glass walls, I could see the terrace that wrapped around the house. It had a swimming pool, a dining area, and a blazing fire pit. And at the far end of the Great Room was a set of double doors marked with the Eye of Horus, and chained with half a dozen padlocks. I wondered what could possibly be behind them._**

"Only a library, like in every normal mansion." Amos said with a small smile on his lips, but if one looked they could see that his gaze was occasionally shifting over to the God dressed in red.

"Why would…forget it." Mr. Faust said as he suddenly remembered who all was here.

**_But the real showstopper was the statue in the center of the Great Room._**

"I feel touched." Thoth said grinning, to bad he had not brought his guitar with him, but the last time had Set nearly broken it over his head, well he kind of had a point to overreact after finding out that Thoth had no antidote at the given time for his problem, and this was before it turned out that he got pregnant.

**_It was thirty feet tall, made of black marble. I could tell it was an Egyptian god because the figure had a human body and an animal's head—like a stork or a crane, with a long neck and a really long beak._**

"Similar, but not correct." the blonde God said slightly offended.

**_The god was dressed ancient-style in a kilt, sash, and neck collar. He held a scribe's stylus in one hand, and an open scroll in the other, as if he had just written the hieroglyphs inscribed there: an ankh—the Egyptian looped cross—with a rectangle traced around its top._**

_"_**_That's it!" Sadie exclaimed. "Per Ankh."_**

**_I stared at her in disbelief. "All right, how can you read that?"_**

_"_**_I don't know," she said. "But it's obvious, isn't it? The top one is shaped like the floor plan of a house."_**

_"_**_How did you get that? It's just a box." _**

Ramses read on when he saw Carter being about to comment.

**_The thing was, she was right. I recognized the symbol, and it _****_was_****_ supposed to be a simplified picture of a house with a doorway, but that wouldn't be obvious to most people, especially people named Sadie._**

Sadie huffed, but knew that it was true.

**_Yet she looked absolutely positive._**

_"_**_It's a house," she insisted. "And the bottom picture is the ankh, the symbol for life. Per Ankh—the House of Life."_**

_"_**_Very good, Sadie." Amos sounded impressed. "And this is a statue of the only god still allowed in the House of Life—at least, normally._**

"What does that mean?!" demanded the four of the antique while by the thrones was Thoth squirming under the heated glares from the other Gods.

"It will be explained in the books." Zia told the rulers who nodded, but one could see that they had a hard time to restrain their questions seeing that the Gods were here.

**_Do you recognize him, Carter?"_**

**_Just then it clicked: the bird was an ibis, an Egyptian river bird. "Thoth," I said. "The god of knowledge. He invented writing."_**

_"_**_Indeed," Amos said._**

_"_**_Why the animal heads?" Sadie asked. "All those Egyptian gods have animal heads. They look so silly."_**

"Excuse me!" come it from Set, Anubis, Thoth, Horus and Tawaret who were now all staring at a blushing Sadie.

"Sorry, now I don't think so." she quickly reassured them.

_"_**_They don't normally appear that way," Amos said. "Not in real life."_**

At this looked most people smiling at the Gods who nodded their heads in agreement.

_"_**_Real life?" I asked. "Come on. You sound like you've met them in person."_**

"Technically, he did meet a few and got one pregnant on the way." Horus said before realizing his mistake, that only come when both Set and Amos glared at him and Nephthys gave him a hard kick in the shin, he was sure that his leg will be green and blue for a long time.

**_Amos's expression didn't reassure me. He looked as if he were remembering something unpleasant. _**

No one noticed when Set looked over at Amos who only pulled her a bit closer, signalling that it was fine.

**_"The gods could appear in many forms—usually fully human or fully animal, but occasionally as a hybrid form like this. They are primal forces, you understand, a sort of bridge between humanity and nature. They are depicted with animal heads to show that they exist in two different worlds at once. Do you understand?"_**

"Yes."

_"_**_Not even a little," Sadie said._**

_"_**_Mmm_****_." Amos didn't sound surprise. "Yes, we have much training to do. At any rate, the god before you, Thoth, founded the House of Life, for which this mansion is the regional headquarters. Or at least... it used to be. _**

"What?" younger Amos asked in worry as he looked over at his older self who had a bitter smile on his lips.

"Let's just say, things needed time to settle in." was the only answer he got, which was not reassuring.

**_I'm the only member left in the Twenty-first Nome._**

Everyone flinched at this, being the only human in such a large building would be hard to bear. Osiris felt his host shift guiltily so he decided to talk to him.

"_What ill is on your mind?" _he asked in a gentle tone, he knew that his host carried much guilt with himself.

"_It is only that, I know that my actions were to help up win the fight against Apophis, but with that have I caused much pain to my family. I got exiled that was fine, but my children were separated and my brother…they had particularly also exiled him here, making his home into his own prison." _Julius answered back sighing, it had been not fair that his loved ones needed to suffer.

"_I can't say that I know how to give you an answer which would ease your burden, I can only say that you are by far a better brother, then I have ever been." _was in the end the King's reply.

"_Don't say that, you are a good brother Osiris." _Julius reassured the God, as time had passed, had he developed a deep fondness for the other.

"_If I would have been a good brother, then I would have stopped Isis from going against Lord Ra, but most of all I would have been there for Set in our youth, but I had never done anything and now saying sorry can't repair the damage." _Osiris sighed sorrowfully while Julius glanced over at their younger siblings.

"_It is never easy to try fixing our mistakes, but we can't give up if it is about people important to us." _he said finally.

**_Or I _****_was_****_, until you two came along."_**

_"_**_Hang on." I had so many questions I could hardly think where to start. "What _****_is_****_ the House of Life? Why is Thoth the only god allowed here, and why are you—"_**

"We would also like to know." said a good deal of their guests.

_"_**_Carter, I understand how you feel." Amos smiled sympathetically. "But these things are better discussed in daylight. You need to get some sleep, and I don't want you to have nightmares."_**

_"_**_You think I can sleep?"_**

_"_**_Mrow_****_." Muffin stretched in Sadie's arms and let loose a huge yawn._**

**_Amos clapped his hands. "Khufu!"_**

"Yes, you got a baboon." Julius said while looking at his brother, still feeling uneasy at the thought of his brother living alone here without any other human being as company.

**_I thought he'd sneezed, because Khufu is a weird name,_**

Carter held his hand up in surrender.

**_but then a little dude about three feet tall with gold fur and a purple shirt came clambering down the stairs. It took me a second to realize it was a baboon wearing an L.A. Lakers jersey._**

**_The baboon did a flip and landed in front of us. He showed off his fangs and made a sound that was half roar, half belch. His breath smelled like nacho-flavored Doritos._**

**_All I could think to say was, "The Lakers are my home team!"_**

Carter blushed, some snickered while both Juliuses beamed.

**_The baboon slapped his head with both hands and belched again._**

_"_**_Oh, Khufu likes you," Amos said. "You'll get along famously."_**

_"_**_Right." Sadie looked dazed. "You've got a monkey butler. Why not?"_**

**_Muffin purred in Sadie's arms as if the baboon didn't bother her at all._**

Rachel looked thoughtful at that, the cats in their village all reacted badly to baboons, so why would this one be so calm, she doubted that the girl's grandparents would allow her in the presence of those animals.

_"_**_Agh_****_!" Khufu grunted at me._**

**_Amos chuckled. "He wants to go one-on-one with you, Carter. To, ah, see your game."_**

Carter's blush only deepened while Sadie broke out laughing.

"I have gotten better." Carter told his laughing sister while gesturing to Ramses that he should continue.

**_I shifted from foot to foot. "Um, yeah. Sure. Maybe tomorrow. But how can you understand—"_**

"It gets easy after a while." Amos said, he had fun raising that little creature, it took his thoughts away from the loneliness.

_"_**_Carter, I'm afraid you'll have a lot to get used to," Amos said. "But if you're going to survive and save your father, you have to get some rest."_**

_"_**_Sorry," Sadie said, "did you say 'survive and save our father'? Could you expand on that?"_**

_"_**_Tomorrow," Amos said. "We'll begin your orientation in the morning. Khufu, show them to their rooms, please."_**

_"_**_Agh-uhh_****_!" the baboon grunted. He turned and waddled up the stairs. Unfortunately, the Lakers jersey didn't completely cover his multicolored rear._**

**_We were about to follow when Amos said, "Carter, the workbag, please. It's best if I lock it in the library."_**

**_I hesitated. I'd almost forgotten the bag on my shoulder, but it was all I had left of my father. I didn't even have our luggage because it was still locked up at the British Museum. Honestly, I'd been surprised that the police hadn't taken the workbag too, but none of them seemed to notice it._**

_"_**_You'll get it back," Amos promised. "When the time is right."_**

Carter nodded at this, his uncle had been right about that.

**_He asked nicely enough, but something in his eyes told me that I really didn't have a choice._**

**_I handed over the bag. Amos took it gingerly, as if it were full of explosives._**

"I still remember some of Julius's failed spell castings and other things, so I learned to be careful around his things." older Amos explained as his younger self nodded with a shudder at some of those memories, their brothers on the other hand only blushed in embarrassment.

_"_**_See you in the morning." He turned and strode toward the chained-up doors. They unlatched themselves and opened just enough for Amos to slip through without showing us anything on the other side. Then the chains locked again behind him._**

**_I looked at Sadie, unsure what to do. Staying by ourselves in the Great Room with the creepy statue of Thoth _**

"It is not, it shows me." Thoth remarked pouting.

"There you have your answer." Horus told the other with a smirk, but Thoth had the perfect comeback.

"You remember why I exist?" he asked with a smile as Hours paled.

"I don't know which was worse, the headache after or the nausea." Set said while shaking her head.

"Pharaoh Ramses, I think you should continue." Ashkender told the ruler who nodded hurriedly.

**_didn't seem like much fun, so we followed Khufu up the stairs._**

**_Sadie and I got adjoining rooms on the third floor, and I've got to admit, they were way cooler than any place I'd ever stayed before._**

The Kane siblings and their initiates nodded their heads in agreement; they all loved their rooms in Brooklyn House.

**_I had my own kitchenette, fully stocked with my favorite snacks: ginger ale—[No, Sadie. It's not an old person's soda! Be quiet!]—Twix, and Skittles. It seemed impossible. How did Amos know what I liked?_**

"I remembered your father's taste and did a try when adjusting the spells to let the type of food appear the owner of the room likes." older Amos explained, it had been a blind guess, but he had been right.

**_The TV, computer, and stereo system were totally high-tech. The bathroom was stocked with my regular brand of toothpaste, deodorant, everything. The king-size bed was awesome, too, though the pillow was a little strange. Instead of a cloth pillow, it was an ivory headrest like I'd seen in Egyptian tombs. It was decorated with lions and (of course) more hieroglyphs._**

"Well, now that Thoth had made a second hard-pillow version which can be placed over it will we have hopefully less misadventures." Sadie said smirking at her brother, their parents didn't like the sound of this.

"And of course will they have no use in stopping demigod dreams and outer body trips." Set whispered to Amos, her tone slightly strained as she remembered getting an update about some of those dreams which her child may have.

"At least should we be happy that their trips don't have the possibility that they can't return to their body." Amos whispered back reassuringly.

**_The room even had a deck that looked out on New York Harbor, with views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty in the distance, but the sliding glass doors were locked shut somehow. That was my first indication that something was wrong._**

"Why did you lock them in?" Ruby asked her brother-in-law, her tone taking up a dangerous edge.

"It had been for safety measures, both against them doing something foolish and try getting out to look for Julius and from the House, because I had no doubt that they had figured out that they would be by me if not by their grandparents." Amos explained before looking over at the siblings. "The third ground was that I noticed how distant they were with each other, so I kind of tried to get them to at least do a small step towards each other."

Carter and Sadie exchanged glances at this, remembering what had happened on that night before they had gone to bed. Neither was sure if they would have done that step they had taken on that night if not for what their uncle did, it seemed that they had to thank Amos for much more then they had thought.

**_I turned to look for Khufu, but he was gone. The door to my room was shut. I tried to open it, but it was locked._**

**_A muffled voice came from the next room. "Carter?"_**

"It was scary to be locked in, but we needed it." Sadie admitted finally when she saw her mother still glaring at her uncle who seemed only a small bit scarred, seems that with having Set around you so much one can learn to not get scarred by the glare of a pregnant mother.

_"_**_Sadie." I tried the door to her adjoining room, but it was locked too._**

_"_**_We're prisoners," she said. "Do you think Amos... I mean, can we trust him?"_**

**"**Yes." the siblings said without hesitation which made Ruby relax a small bit.

**_After all I'd seen today, I didn't trust _****_anything_****_, but I could hear the fear in Sadie's voice. It triggered an unfamiliar feeling in me, like I needed to reassure her. The idea seemed ridiculous. Sadie had always seemed so much braver than me—doing what she wanted, never caring about the consequences._**

"You're brave, Carter, just in a different way," Zia said to her boyfriend.

**_I was the one who got scared. But right now, I felt like I needed to play a role I hadn't played in a long, long time: big brother._**

Ruby sighed at this while leaning back on the couch, it seemed that Amos had been right, she was not content with his idea of locking her children into their rooms after what they had went through already that night, but they needed it to be siblings again.

_"_**_It'll be okay." I tried to sound confident. "Look, if Amos wanted to hurt us, he could've done it by now._**

"I would never intentionally hurt my family." both Amoses said at the same time.

"Yes, that is only the God you follow." Horus said as he received glares again.

"I did not do even half as painful things to you, then you have done to me and Amos was talking about family, that means at least some type of emotional bond which we all agree on neither of you had actually with me." Set told the other making both Osiris and Nephthys flinch, but neither of them could really deny it.

The others watched the exchange uneasily when Ramses finally noticed Walt signalling to him that he should read on, which he did.

**_Try to get some sleep."_**

_"_**_Carter?"_**

_"_**_Yeah?"_**

_"_**_It was magic, wasn't it? What happened to Dad at the museum. Amos's boat. This house. All of it's magic."_**

_"_**_I think so."_**

**_I could hear her sigh. "Good. At least I'm not going mad."_**

_"_**_Don't let the bedbugs bite," I called. And I realized I hadn't said that to Sadie since we had lived together in Los Angeles, when Mom was still alive._**

Ruby felt close to tears at this, yes her children really needed something to push them towards each other.

_"_**_I miss Dad," she said. "I hardly ever saw him, I know, but... I miss him."_**

**_My eyes got a little teary, but I took a deep breath. I was _****_not_****_ going to go all weak. Sadie needed me. Dad needed us._**

_"_**_We'll find him," I told her. "Pleasant dreams."_**

**_I listened, but the only thing I heard was Muffin meowing and scampering around, exploring her new space._**

**_At least _****_she_****_ didn't seem unhappy._**

A good deal of people smiled.

**_I got ready for bed and crawled in. The covers were comfortable and warm, but the pillow was just too weird. It gave me neck cramps, so I put it on the floor and went to sleep without it._**

**_My first big mistake._**

"You can say that again." Zia told him while gesturing to her boyfriend's worried parents, she herself was about to fry him for a stupid mistake like that.

"I learned from my mistake." Carter said while Ramses passed the book over to Narmer who flipped it to the next page.

"The next chapter is titled **_Breakfast with a Crocodile_**_"_

The moment he had read this queen Hatshepsut perked up in interest, which didn't go unnoticed by two of the three men sitting with her.

_To be continued…_


	6. Just your usual breakfast chat

A/N: so here is a new chapter and I would really like to know what you think of the story so far, it is kind of hard to determine without comments (ones which don't have anything to do with the story don't count and kind of do the opposite then being motivating to write), even thought the favs and alerts are encouraging. I'm also open for suggestions if you have got an idea what could be also put in here and I will see if it fits the raw-plotline and if yes then if will be added.

P.S.: sorry if there should be lines which seem strange, my insomnia kicked in so I have not slept since thirty-two hours and I'm doing this in parallel writing to the HP/PJ crossover-reading fic, meaning I switch between the writing of the stories.

* * *

VI. Just your usual breakfast chat

Narmer would have liked to protest about him reading, but seeing how his brother and the two other rulers had also done this had he no choice. He only hoped that these books would make Ashkender see sense, the Red God was dangerous as were his followers, but it seemed that most present here failed to notice that. As both the oldest still living brother and pharaoh had he a duty to protect the land and the people living in it, his family was a great part of that, he could not allow his brother to end up used as a puppet of chaos.

**_How to describe it? Not a nightmare. It was much more real and frightening._**

"Of course it is." Ruby huffed; Carter would prove to be a handful it seemed.

**_As I slept, I felt myself go weightless. I drifted up, turned, and saw my own sleeping form below._**

**_I'm dying_****_, I thought. But that wasn't it, either. I wasn't a ghost. I had a new shimmering golden form with wings instead of arms. I was some kind of bird. _**

**_[No, Sadie, not a chicken. Will you let me tell the story, please?]_**

"Of course was he not a chicken, he was a falcon." Horus said offended at the thought of one comparing his Eye's ba to a chicken.

"I don't care what type of bird his ba resembled; I wouldn't even care if it looked like a large kiwi bird, as long as he gets safe back into his body." Ruby snapped while some tried not to snicker, or laugh like Sadie, at the thought of a Carter headed kiwi bird.

"Mom, I'm fine." Carter tried reassuring his mother, but on the inside was he busy flinching, if this was how she reacted to his first ba-trip, then he dreaded how she would take the other ones, mostly when Set almost caught him.

"Ye…yes, you are safe. Never put that headrest away again." Ruby scolded both her unborn and young-adult son.

**_I knew I wasn't dreaming, because I don't dream in color. I certainly don't dream in all five senses. The room smelled faintly of jasmine. I could hear the carbonation bubbles pinging in the can of ginger ale I'd opened on my nightstand. I could feel a cold wind ruffling through my feathers, and I realized the windows were open. I didn't want to leave,_**

"At least you don't want to intentionally have them." Ruby said while massaging her forehead, she was resisting the urge to give Carter a scolding or Amos for not telling them about this fact.

**_but a strong current pulled me out of the room like a leaf in a storm._**

**_The lights of the mansion faded below me. The skyline of New York blurred and disappeared. I shot through the mist and darkness, strange voices whispering all around me. My stomach tingled as it had earlier that night on Amos's barge. Then the mist cleared, and I was in a different place._**

"Which was a good thing that I was there, but also could have lived without the experience of a Duat travel only with my ba." Carter said as he looked over at Set who raised an eyebrow, so she had been right when she felt irritation all of a sudden right after arriving, she had at that time thought that is was still a lingering effect of her claustrophobia and dismissed it.

**_I floated above a barren mountain. Far below, a grid of city lights stretched across the valley floor. Definitely not New York. It was nighttime, but I could tell I was in the desert._**

Set smiled at this, she loved the feeling of the sun warmed sand, the freedom, and how everything tended to glitter either in gold, ivory or crimson, depending on the consistence of the desert. It always calmed her to roam around for long hours; this was why she tended in the first place to go to the desert when she was in heat. The once time his now ex-wife and sister had kept him at home had resulted in Anubis and all what that had brought with it…

Amos noticed the frown on the God's face so he tapped into their shared link to find out what was wrong.

"_Set, do you feel alright?"_ he asked in concern, he hoped that it had nothing to do with what was brought up last chapter regards he snake-skin and the original Twenty-First Nome, he still felt nausea and dread when he thought about the memories bound to those two things.

"_It is really noting Amos, I was just thinking about the desert." _she replied back, glad that he was concerned about her, and not only because of the baby, but she was not up telling him.

"_Fine, but tell me if something is."_ he told her, then proceeded to pull the surprised God closer to himself, luckily she didn't resist and the others had not noticed what he did.

**_The wind was so dry, the skin in my face was like paper. And I know that doesn't make sense, but my face felt like my normal face, as if that part of me hadn't transformed into a bird. _**

**_[Fine, Sadie. Call me the Carter-headed chicken. Happy?]_**

This was followed by a good deal of people starting to laugh while both Carter and Horus started pouting for the upcoming two minutes it took for the others to calm down somewhat.

**_Below me on a ridge stood two figures. They didn't seem to notice me, and I realized I wasn't glowing anymore. In fact I was pretty much invisible, floating in the darkness. I couldn't make out the two figures clearly, except to recognize that they weren't human._**

Ruby tried reassuring herself that her son was fine and he will not be noticed, but that didn't stop her from holding Julius's arm in a way which would leave her finger prints on it for the reminder of the week. Zia was kind of doing the same as Sadie looked nervous, she hated her own ba-trips, but Carter had them more often then her in the past.

**_Staring harder, I could see that one was short, squat, and hairless, with slimy skin that glistened in the starlight—_**

**_ike an amphibian standing on its hind legs. The other was tall and scarecrow skinny, with rooster claws instead of feat._**

A few people jumped suddenly in fright when they heard the people of the present growl, their eyes fixated hatefully on the book Narmer was holding, while trying not to shudder.

"What is wrong?" Julius asked, he had rarely seen his brother look so ready to destroy or hurt someone.

"You will see." Amos replied in a stained tone, that damned demon had been the cause for most of the torment they had went through, he could feel Set shaking in his arms from furry and he could certainly understand her. That demon was on a nice place on their hunting list.

**_I couldn't see his face very well, but it looked red and moist and... well, let's just say I was glad I couldn't see better._**

"Sadly, not for long." Carter mumbled under his breath when Set spoke up.

"Yes, it is certainly one ugly enough that you want to rip it of." she said dangerously and the visitors were shocked that all those from the present, the Gods include – even thought both Isis and Hours looked a bit sick at the idea -, seemed to agree with her. Just what was it with this demon that they all hated it so much?

_"_**_Where is he?" the toadie-looking one croaked nervously._**

_"_**_Hasn't taken a permanent host yet," the rooster-footed guy chided. "He can only appear for a short time."_**

"To bad I didn't use that short time to grill him." Set mumbled under her breath as Amos kept his arms around her, this time had Nephthys not the strength to kick Horus, she knew that her once husband needed comfort no matter how he tended to deny it, and sadly could he never feel that with her.

_"_**_You're sure this is the place?"_**

_"_**_Yes, fool! He'll be here as soon—"_**

**_A fiery form appeared on the ridge. The two creatures fell to the ground, groveling in the dirt, and I prayed like crazy that I really was invisible._**

"And I can't believe that you did not pray to me." Hours fumed in annoyance while Carter only shook his head.

"Horus, at that time had I no idea that you existed." Carter told the fuming Falcon God, he could be so childish most of the time.

"That is still no excuse."

"I should have used him as a rug." Set continued on musing to herself, she had been so dumb to not realize that something was not right.

_"_**_My lord!" the toad said._**

**_Even in the dark, the newcomer was hard to see—just the silhouette of a man outlined in flames._**

Narmer felt annoyed that he got the chapter with Set in it, but at least would this hopefully show how the God threats those who serve him.

_"_**_What do they call this place?" the man asked. And as soon as he spoke, I knew for sure he was the guy who'd attacked my dad at the British Museum. All the fear I'd felt at the museum came rushing back, paralyzing me._**

"And just where did that fear disappear to, if I may ask?" Set asked with a raised eyebrow as she looked at Carter who gave her a beaming smile.

"I had some good teachers and some hard experiences." he replied back to the God.

"Should have known, but at least have you not got your ego influenced by your bird." she said, ignoring the glare Horus sent her way.

"There were some close calls." Carter admitted in a grave tone at which Horus only stared spluttering at his host while some of the other started laughing.

**_I remembered trying to pick up that stupid rock to throw, but I hadn't been able to do even that. I'd completely failed my dad._**

"No you didn't," older Julius said gently to his son. "You've never failed me Carter." he was glad when his son smiled at him.

_"_**_My lord," Rooster Foot said._**

**"**Pah…as if I would have been his lord." Set growled while the others adapted their dark looks again, they knew how right Set was.

"Do you also have the feeling that we are missing something important?" Ruby whispered to those on their couch, they all nodded.

"They seem ready for murderer whenever this demon gets mentioned." younger Amos noted while watching his older self from the corner of his eyes tighten his hold on Set who looked murderous.

**_"The mountain is called Camelback. The city is called Phoenix."_**

"Why do I have suddenly the urge to say 'Oh, the irony'? Desjardins said while looking over at the people of the present who managed to give him a few small grins.

**_The fiery man laughed—a booming sound like thunder. "Phoenix. How appropriate! And the desert is so much like home._**

"It really was." Set said gently, her anger subsisting a small bit.

"We can visit there for a short time with the baby seeing that in Egypt you have your home right outside the Nome." Amos whispered into her ear which made the God smile, she liked the idea.

**_All it needs now is to be scoured of life. The desert should be a sterile place, don't you think?"_**

Narmer read bitterly when Osiris suddenly took over again and spoke up, his voice laden with guilt.

"Is this idea because of the lies my priests had spread about you?" Osiris asked his younger brother, he had been furious when he found out what his followers had done only shortly after Ra had been forced to give up his throne and his little sister had only added more to it. Salt in the wounds indeed.

"How would you feel Osiris when you are still distraught over an unjust committed by kin as people like to put it, then get summoned by your panicked priests who tried doing that since a few weeks, and inform you that now the whole of Egypt believes you to be infertile." Set said while looking sternly at her brother, forcing her gaze to not travel over to Nephthys who had her head bowed deeply in shame while the Kane siblings and the initiates blinked in shock.

"You know that he could kind of not have ended up pregnant if he would be sterile, the gender does not matter." Jaz said in a stunned tone while the siblings were still staring incredulously at Osiris.

"Beside that, we all know that he is Anubis's father." Tawaret said, she still wondered from where their people got the impossible assumption that she was married to Set, both of them were to this day perplexed by those rumours. Really only because she met up with him trice a week to give him updates about how Lord Ra was doing hardly counted as an indication for that.

"He is?" asked the four of he antique at which Set looked even more annoyed while Anubis felt suddenly offended by those words, but he didn't know why.

"Yes, my sister had wished that Isis and I take over raising Anubis and when confronted by my brother…" Osiris said, he knew that he didn't need to finish for the four understood. "I still feel disappointed at the maliciousness of my priests."

"And one still wonders why there are issues between us." Set said bitterly before gesturing for Narmer to continue, this kind of brought the pharaoh out of his daze and he started continuing, if for nothing else then to avoid the look his brother was giving him.

_"_**_Oh yes, my lord," the toadie agreed. "But what of the other four?"_**

_"_**_One is already entombed,"_**

Both Osiris and older Julius flinched at this, it had ben no fun.

**_the fiery man said. "The second is weak. She will be easily manipulated._**

At this raised Nephthys her head enough to look at Set who had her eyes closed, arms and legs crossed while she leaned into the hold Amos still had around her to make sure that she would be fine.

"At that time, I had the foolish thought of giving you a third starting over chance, but it seems that it was not a problem that I couldn't get to it, we would have ended up the same as by the other two times…" Set didn't need to elaborate; she knew what was not said. _'…you would have betrayed me again without hesitation.'_

**_That leaves only two. And they will be dealt with soon enough."_**

_"_**_Er... how?" the toadie asked._**

"He should have stayed quiet, I may have not been able to see Carter being there, but I felt the same irritation which flows through me whenever Horus is near so if one takes a wrong step." Set said while Carter shivered, he knew what will come next.

**_The fiery man glowed brighter. "You are an inquisitive little tadpole, aren't you?" He pointed at the toad and the poor creature's skin began to steam._**

_"_**_No!" the toadie begged. "No-o-o-o!"_**

**_I could hardly watch. I don't want to describe it. But if you've heard what happens when cruel kids pour salt on snails, you'll have a pretty good idea of what happened to the toadie._**

Everyone shivered at this while Narmer looked over at his brother.

"Do you see my point now?" he asked his brother, but the other held his gaze.

"After my knowledge brother, am I still human and not a demon or so I hope that you still see me as one." Ashkender told his brother who tried reassuring him, but he had turned away so that his brother needed to go back to reading. He knew that Narmer loved him and he returned those feelings, Narmer was a good man and brother, but sometimes, he failed to see things as they are.

Joining the Priests of Set would solve a good deal of rebellions in Upper Egypt, whose people were not pleased with how their guardian deity was treated. He had already behind his brother's back taken up correspondence with one of the High Priests and the man had pleasantly surprised him with his openness to the idea, though he had needed to figure that out from the lengthily lines written on the papyrus with the skill of a scribe. He felt intrigued by the man's cunning and shrewdness and felt always a kind of anticipation whenever one of his letters got delivered to him in secret or hidden in the city, so that he would need to follow the clues written in the previous letter. He was intrigued to meet the other finally face to face, so that they have a chance for more deeper discussions, he would also accept something more if it should be in the Gods will, he had never put much difference in his liking for either gender, what interested him was the mind. Beside that, he was really doing all of this for the shake of his brother and the whole of their people, they deserved peace and not war!

**_Soon there was nothing left._**

**_Rooster Foot took a nervous step back. I couldn't blame him._**

"Now I wish that he would have taken a step forward." Carter said angrily as he tried to stop his hands from touching his neck.

_"_**_We will build my temple here," the fiery man said, as if nothing had happened._**

"I was trying to control my irritation, should have let it just out." Set said, her eyes still closed.

_"_**_This mountain shall serve as my place of worship. When it is complete, I will summon the greatest storm ever known. I will cleanse everything. _****_Everything_****_."_**

_"_**_Yes, my lord," Rooster Foot agreed quickly. "And, ah, if I may suggest, my lord, to increase your power..." The creature bowed and scraped and moved forward, as if he wanted to whisper in the fiery man's ear._**

"_His only sensible idea, for which I'm grateful."_ Set said to Amos through their link making him glance down at the God.

"_I agree on that matter, he certainly made a great mistake with that suggestion" _Amos said back and was glad when he saw a small smile on the God's lips.

**_Just when I thought Rooster Foot was going to become fried chicken for sure,_**

"Should have done that, but no problem the next time I see his slimy little face he will become just that." Set said threateningly, one of her crossed hands grabbing hold of the arm of Amos's suit, seeing how he still had one arm around her, keeping his hand from retreating.

"Let me guess we need to wait to know what is wrong." younger Julius said.

"You will know near the end of the book." Walt said in a forced calm tone.

**_he said something to the fiery dude that I couldn't make out, and the fiery dude_**

"Carter, try learning naming creativity from your sister." Set told the blushing Pharaoh, she could hardly wait till they stop referring to her as this while some of the others broke out laughing in amusement.

"Sorry Set, but I think that he is a lost case in that department." Sadie replied back good naturedly while trying to calm down again which took three more minutes.

**_burned brighter._**

_"_**_Excellent! If you can do this, you will be rewarded. If not..."_**

"The '_if not'_ would have been brilliant." Sadie said with narrowed eyes, they were so lucky that she noticed it and stopped the spell in the last minute.

_"_**_I understand, my lord."_**

_"_**_Go then," the fiery man said. "Unleash our forces. Start with the longnecks. _**

Narmer's eyes narrowed, he hated those beasts while Carter flinched and hoped that his uncle would keep his arms around Set for a bit longer seeing how the God might become annoyed with him soon.

**_That should soften them up. Collect the younglings and bring them to me. I want them alive, before they have time to learn their powers. Do not fail me."_**

"Both fortunately and unfortunately they were without knowing pretty good at getting out of sticky situations, mostly with their capable help." Set said which made Ruby relax a small bit, but only a little seeing how her kids will be in danger.

"Nice that you accept our strength." Horus told the other God who looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I was talking about their cat, not you and Isis." Set replied back which made both mentioned Gods glare at her while the siblings broke out laughing.

"I really wonder what is this about the cat." Desjardins said while Iskander felt confirmed in his suspicion.

"Beside that, Set wanted us captured alive, which I kind of forgot, "Carter admitted "that was kind of the better thing we had at that time." he finished while taking Zia's hand into his to show her that all this in the past and doesn't matter.

"So nice to know." Ruby huffed, people said that motherhood was full of challenges, but they failed to tell her that it was _this _challenging.

"It isn't it, by the way Set, hope you had a talk with him after his disaster." Sadie said while looking from her mother over to the God who answered her with an evil grin.

_"_**_No, lord."_**

_"_**_Phoenix," the fiery man mused. "I like that very much. _**

"It reminded me of Ra." Set whispered softly.

**_He swept his hand across the horizon, as if he were imagining the city in flames._**

"It was more like past memories." was her reply, she kind of didn't even see the city while doing that, she wanted to hold onto her childhood memories as long as she could, but it was not easy and they soon disappeared again.

_"_**_Soon I will rise from your ashes. It will be a lovely birthday present."_**

The other Gods on the thrones bit back a flinch, raising from his ashes was something Ra always did in a metamorphic way whenever the sun raised again.

**_I woke with my heart pounding, back in my own body._**

Both Ruby and Zia sighed in relief, his ba was again there where is should be.

**_I felt hot, as if the fiery guy were starting to burn me. Then I realized that there was a cat on my chest._**

Both Carter and Amos shared and amused look with each other while Set tried not to blush, since her arrival back here had the way Carter walked in on them become with his incident a type of inside joke.

"What is so amusing?" younger Julius asked his son and brother, he didn't notice Set's reaction.

"Only a private joke." the two replied back, till now were they the only ones who woke up to find a God or Goddess in animal form on their chest waiting for them to wake up. When Horus got back had Carter kind of closed the window in accident right when the God was about to fly in through it.

**_Muffin stared at me, her eyes half closed. "_****_Mrow_****_."_**

_"_**_How did you get in?" I muttered._**

"I don't care anymore, only that she did." Carter said now that he knew that it had been Bast who pulled him back.

**_I sat up, and for a second I wasn't sure where I was. Some hotel in another city? I almost called for my dad..._**

Julius smiled sadly at his son.

**_and then I remembered._**

**_Yesterday. The museum. The sarcophagus._**

**_It all crashed down on me so hard I could barely breathe._**

**_Stop_****_, I told myself. _****_You don't have time for grief._****_ And this is going to sound weird, but the voice in my head almost sounded like a different person—older, stronger. Either that was a good sign,_**

Hours grinned at this, he had finally some appearance here.

**_or I was going crazy._**

"I'm still not sure." Carter said in a wondering tone which made Horus splutter again.

"I wonder when he will notice that Carter does this because he knows how Horus will react." Jaz whispered to Julian who was looking between Carter and Hours.

"I don't like admitting it, seeing how I also follow the Path of Horus, but I would say it might take a while." he replied back to the healer.

**_Remember what you saw,_****_ the voice said. _****_He's after you. You have to be ready._**

**_I shivered. I wanted to believe I'd just had a bad dream, but I knew better. I'd been through too much in the last day to doubt what I'd seen. Somehow, I'd actually left my body while I slept. I'd _****_been_****_ to Phoenix—thousands of miles away. The fiery dude was there. I hadn't understood much of what he'd said, but he'd talked about sending his forces to capture the younglings. Gee, wonder who that could be?_**

Ruby narrowed her eyes at the siblings who were giving her innocent smiles while the initiates were trying not to laugh.

**_Muffin jumped off the bed and sniffed at the ivory headrest, looking up at me as if she were trying to tell me something._**

_"_**_You can have it," I told her. "It's uncomfortable."_**

**_She butted her head against it and stared at me accusingly. "_****_Mrow_****_."_**

Carter looked sheepish while Set sent him a look of understanding, she had also gotten a few scoldings by Bast in the past.

_"_**_Whatever, cat."_**

**_I got up and showered. When I tried to get dressed, I found that my old clothes had disappeared in the night. Everything in the closet was my size, but way different than what I was used to—baggy drawstring pants and loose shirts, all plain white linen, and robes for cold weather, kind of what the _****_fellahin_****_, the peasants in Egypt, wear. It wasn't exactly my style._**

Some of the initiates nodded their heads, but knew why they had those now and well, there are still the alternatives they are wearing now.

**_Sadie likes to tell me that I don't _****_have_****_ a style. She complains that I dress like I'm an old man—button-down shirt, slacks, dress shoes._**

Ruby looked over at her husband.

**_Okay, maybe. But here's the thing. My dad had always drilled into my head that I had to dress my best._**

**_I remember the first time he explained it to me. I was ten. We were on our way to the airport in Athens, and it was like 112 degrees outside, and I was complaining that I wanted to wear shorts and a T-shirt. Why couldn't I be comfortable? We weren't going anywhere important that day—just traveling._**

**_My dad put his hand on my shoulder. "Carter, you're getting older. You're an African American man._**

A good deal of people scowled at this, they hated the way people acted around those who were different.

"It is annoying." Set mumbled so that only Amos could hear her, she got enough of that because of two of her divine properties and because she was also made a God of Foregainers in some aspects.

**_People will judge you more harshly, and so you must always look impeccable."_**

There were a good deal of nods, but no one commented.

_"_**_That isn't fair!" I insisted._**

_"_**_Fairness does not mean everyone gets the same," Dad said. "Fairness means everyone gets what they need. And the only way to get what you need is to make it happen _****_yourself_****_. Do you understand?"_**

There were again nods at this, they knew that Julius had been right about that, to most degrees.

**_I told him I didn't. But still I did what he asked—like caring about Egypt, and basketball, and music. Like traveling with only one suitcase. I dressed the way Dad wanted me to, because Dad was usually right. In fact I'd never known him to be wrong... until the night at the British Museum._**

"The fact that I didn't know that all five of them were in the Stone" here older Julius flinched at the look Desjardins was giving him "kind of complicated things." he finished explaining, he wondered that when everyone departs if they would have their memories about this.

**_Anyway, I put on the linen clothes from the closet. The slipper shoes were comfortable, though I doubted they'd be much good to run in._**

**'****_Now I know that if you need to run, nothing matters.'_**

**_The door to Sadie's room was open, but she wasn't there._**

**_Thankfully my bedroom door wasn't locked anymore. Muffin joined me and we walked downstairs, passing a lot of unoccupied bedrooms on the way. The mansion could've easily slept a hundred people, but instead it felt empty and sad._**

Amos flinched at this, but he soon relaxed when he felt a surge of warmth brush against his senses, he allowed it gratefully to wrap around him and make him forget the painful days. Set had a good understanding for his feelings about those days. Meanwhile tried the Kane siblings and their initiates to not glare at those issuing the abandonment of Brooklyn House as the younger version of their uncle got a hug from his sister-in-law. The two Juliuses meanwhile looked guilty for putting their brother through this.

**_Down in the Great Room, Khufu the baboon sat on the sofa with a basketball between his legs and a chunk of strange-looking meat in his hands. It was covered in pink feathers. ESPN was on the television, and Khufu was watching highlights from the games of the night before._**

At this younger Amos smiled slightly and wondered if he may have let Julius babysit Khufu a bit to often, that he is so much into sports.

_"_**_Hey," I said, though I felt a little weird talking to him. "Lakers win?"_**

**_Khufu looked at me and patted his basketball like he wanted a game. "_****_Agh, agh_****_."_**

**_He had a pink feather hanging from his chin, and the sight made my stomach do a slow roll._**

Those who had seen this at least once shuddered in agreement, well except the owner who got used to it.

_"_**_Um, yeah," I said. "We'll play later, okay?"_**

**_I could see Sadie and Amos out on the terrace, eating breakfast by the pool. It should've been freezing out there, but the fire pit was blazing, and neither Amos nor Sadie looked cold. I headed their way, then hesitated in front of the statue of Thoth. In the daylight, the bird-headed god didn't look quite so scary. _**

Thoth huffed at this in indignation.

**_Still, I could swear those beady eyes were watching me expectantly._**

**_What had the fiery guy said last night? Something about catching us before we learned our powers. It sounded ridiculous, but for a moment I felt a surge of strength—like the night before when I'd open the front door just by raising my hand. I felt like I could lift anything, even this thirty-foot-tall statue if I wanted to._**

"Not inside the house till you don't know how to use your powers." Amos said while looking at Julius on the throne who blushed, his younger version did the same.

"What did you do?" Ruby asked her husband, the children looked also interested.

"Uh…"

"He kind of nearly sent the couch flying out of the window, with out parents and grandparents sitting on it." younger Amos elaborated while ignoring his brother's glare.

"So this is why your parents insisted to use the chairs the first time you introduced me to them." Ruby said in a thoughtful tone while some of the others snickered at the older Kane brother's embarrassment.

**_In a kind of trance, I stepped forward._**

**_Muffin meowed impatiently and butted my foot. The feeling dissolved._**

**'****_Thanks Bast.'_**

_"_**_You're right," I told the cat. "Stupid idea."_**

**_Besides, I could smell breakfast now—French toast, bacon, hot chocolate— and I couldn't blame Muffin for being in a hurry. I followed her out to the terrace._**

_"_**_Ah, Carter," Amos said. "Merry Christmas, my boy. Join us."_**

_"_**_About time," Sadie grumbled. "I've been up for ages."_**

**_But she held my eyes for a moment, like she was thinking the same thing I was: _****_Christmas_****_. We hadn't spent a Christmas morning together since Mom died. _**

Ruby again teared a bit up at this, but was happy that her children finally spent Christmas together like they should.

**_I wondered if Sadie remembered how we used to make god's-eye decoration out of yarn and Popsicle sticks._**

"I did." Sadie admitted with a smile at her brother while she leaned against Walt.

**_Amos poured himself a cup of coffee. His clothes were similar to those he'd worn the day before, and I had to admit the guy had style._**

"At least you admitted it, you father was the option that I was like a girl." older Amos said, his younger self only glared at his brother while both Juliuses did their best to ignore them.

**_His tailored suit was made of blue wool,_**

"What gave you that impression?" Amos asked his nephew who shrugged, he was not an expert in what materials are used for a good deal of clothes.

**_he wore a matching fedora, and his hair was freshly braided with dark blue lapis lazuli, one of the stones the Egyptian often used for jewelry. Even his glasses matched. The round lenses were tinted blue. A tenor sax rested on a stand near the fire pit, and I could totally picture him playing out here, serenading the East River._**

Set giggled at this, knowing that her Eye certainly does that, not that she was complaining seeing how it she was starting to like this type of music and the baby seems to also like it.

**_As for Sadie, she was dressed in a white linen pajama outfit like me, but somehow she'd managed to keep her combat boots. She'd probably slept with them on._**

"I did," Sadie admitted, embarrassed as the others chuckled at her comment. This sounded so much like her.

**_She looked pretty comical with the red-streaked hair and the outfit, but since I wasn't dressed any better, I could hardly make fun of her._**

_"_**_Um... Amos?" I asked. "You didn't have any pet birds, did you? Khufu's eating something with pink feathers."_**

At this looked the younger version of said man with interest at the book, he hoped that the answer will be not, but seeing how he kind of never liked birds as pets he doubted it, but knowing something more about Khufu would be nice.

_"_**_Mmm_****_." Amos sipped his coffee. "Sorry if that disturbed you. Khufu's very picky. He only eats foods that end in _****_–o_****_. Doritos, burritos, flamingos."_**

"Excuse me?" come it from some of the past visitors.

"I'm not sure how that started, only that he suddenly started to refuse eating anything which didn't end in 'o'." older Amos replied with a shrug, after a month he had given up looking for an explaining and just went with it.

"He also likes people whose names end in that letter." Felix whispered to the others on the matt as they remembered how much Khufu adores Cleo.

"Nice to know, but at least is that manageable." younger Amos said, yes that little animal will certainly take his mind away from worries.

**_I blinked. "Did you say—"_**

_"_**_Carter," Sadie warned. She looked a little queasy, like she'd already had this conversation._**

"I did," Sadie informed everyone and she would still like to forget about it.

_"_**_Don't ask."_**

_"_**_Okay," I said. "Not asking."_**

_"_**_Please, Carter, help yourself." Amos waved toward a buffet table piled high with food. "Then we can get started with the explanations."_**

**_I didn't see any flamingo on the buffet table, which was fine by me, but there was just about everything else. I snagged some pancakes with butter and syrup, some bacon, and a glass of OJ._**

**_Then I noticed movement in the corner of my eye. I glanced at the swimming pool. Something long and pale was gliding just under the surface of the water._**

**_I almost dropped my plate. "Is that—"_**

_"_**_A crocodile," Amos confirmed. "For good luck. He's albino, but please don't mention that. He's sensitive."_**

Hatshepsut looked interested at this and wondered if she should ask when they hold a pause if she could go outside to it for a little while.

"You never said anything about a crocodile." younger Julius told his brother.

"Though it is more then good to have them." Ramses said in an approving tone, no temple no matter the time period should be without at least one of them.

_"_**_His name is Philip of Macedonia," Sadie informed me._**

Sadie nodded her head, she loved Philip.

**_I wasn't sure how Sadie was taking this all so calmly, but I figured if she wasn't freaking out, I shouldn't be either._**

_"_**_That's a long name," I said._**

_"_**_He's a long crocodile," Sadie said. "Oh, and he likes bacon."_**

**_To prove her point, she tossed a piece of bacon over her shoulder. Philip lunged out of the water and snapped up the treat. His hide was pure white and his eyes were pink. _**

"He sounds really pretty." at this stared everyone at the queen who had a small smile on her lips. "My most beloved nurse Sitre had been an animal charmer and she teached me when I had asked her, my speciality are in crocodiles." she explained while those from the future felt that they now had another link how much the female pharaoh had loved her nurse to bury her in the Valley of the Kings and also the irony how the woman who had helped raising her in life, had been again her guardian in death.

"Great, I'm the best with penguins, I will show you them later if you want." Felix said excitedly, he knew that his family were descendants of the queen and it made him really happy that she had been also an animal charmer like him.

"I would really like that Felix." Hatshepsut replied with a smile.

**_His mouth was so big, he could've snapped up an entire pig._**

_"_**_He's quite harmless to my friends," Amos assured me._**

Everyone from the present noded their heads, that was certainly true Philip would never attack you if you ara a friend.

_"_**_In the old days, no temple would be complete without a lake full of crocodiles. They are powerful magic creatures."_**

More nods.

_"_**_Right," I said. "So the baboon, the crocodile... any other pets I should know about?"_**

**_Amos thought for a moment. "Visible ones? No, I think that's it."_**

A good few people snickered at this while Carter looked a bit embarassed.

**_I took a seat as far from the pool as possible. Muffin circled my leg and purred._**

"I think at that time was Bast trying to console me." Carter whispered to Sadie, Zia and Walt who nodded in agreement.

"You really needed it, though at that time was I a bit annoyed that my cat was suddenly so attached to you." Sadie admitted, now she was more then grateful to Bast that she went to help her brother.

"I was also kind of confused why she seemed to be around me so much unlike in the past."

**_I hoped she had enough sense to stay away from magic crocodiles named Philip._**

Some snickered at Carter's comment.

_"_**_So, Amos," I said between bites of pancake. "Explanations."_**

_"_**_Yes," he agreed. "Where to start..."_**

"It was not easy to decide with them having no clue about anything." older Amos said, he had spent half of the night awake trying to find out where to start the whole conversation. The siblings only looked sheepishly at their uncle while Julius gave him an apologetic smile.

_"_**_Our dad," Sadie suggested. "What happened to him?"_**

**_Amos took a deep breath. "Julius was attempting to summon a god. Unfortunately, it worked."_**

**_It was kind of hard to take Amos seriously, talking about summoning gods while he spread butter on a bagel._**

"Could have been worse, our parents did the laundry while giving us the explanation, it is hard to take the whole explaining of he House seriously when after telling you that magic and Gods are reall, your father asks you to hand him the shorts." younger Julius said which caused the others to break out laughing as they imagined this.

"That would explain some things." Desjardins mumbled to himself.

"Mom and I were doing the dishes when she told me." Ruby supplied at which her mother blushed as the laughter increased.

_"_**_Any god in particular?" I asked casually. "Or did he just order a generic god?"_**

Carter gave the Gods and innocent smile as they looked at his with raised eyebrows.

**_Sadie kicked me under the table. She was scowling, as if she actually believed what Amos was saying. Amos took a bite of bagel. "There are many Egyptian gods, Carter. But your dad was after one in particular."_**

**_He looked at me meaningfully._**

_"_**_Osiris," I remembered. "When Dad was standing in front of the Rosetta Stone, he said, 'Osiris, come.' But Osiris is a legend. He's make-believe."_**

"Am I now, Carter?" Osiris asked playfully as he took over for a few seconds.

"Certainly not." the Pharaoh of the House answered back.

_"_**_I wish that were true."_**

Older Amos shifted in his seat, but the fact that he could still feel the heat Set was radiating into him calmed him a bit, he got to much used to the Gods to wish otherwise anymore.

**_Amos stared across the East River at the Manhattan skyline, gleaming in the morning sun. "The Ancient Egyptians were not fools, Carter. they built the pyramids. They created the first great nation state. Their civilization lasted thousands of years."_**

_"_**_Yeah," I said. "And now they're gone."_**

**_Amos shook his head. "A legacy that powerful does not disappear. Next to the Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans were babies._**

"Set" Amos said the God's name who chuckled a bit as she felt his slight nervousness.

"I got that one covered when we gave the basic explanation with their Pantheon to the demigods." she told him, it had caused a good deal of yelling and such, but they understood.

**_Our modern nations like Great Britain and America? Blinks of an eye. The very oldest root of civilization, at least of Western civilization, is Egypt. Look at the pyramid on the dollar bill. Look at the Washington Monument—the world's largest Egyptian obelisk._**

"Those were part of the explanatory argument and the fact that we are still coexisting here." Set said.

"What are the Greek symbols here, beside the paintings, and the looks of some buildings and statues that is." Alyssa asked the God.

"I think the most prominent one would be the symbol of America, it represents Zeus's eagle." Set explained.

"Kind of ironic that the King of the Greco-Roman Gods and the King of the Egyptian Pantheon both have the same animal as their symbol." Ruby noted thoughtfully while the others wondered if this had also some significance that the two sides had been now brought together again through history.

"It certainly is, but let us continue." Iskander said, his voice thoughtful seeing how he combined the blood of both Ancient Lands in him.

Narmer nodded, but his face looked confused when he read the next line.

**_Egypt is still very much alive. And so, unfortunately, are her gods."_**

"The reasons for that sentence are more then solid and justified." Set spoke up when the other Gods turned in Amos's direction who tried not to smile at the God's protectiveness because he knew that it was partly because of the other's abandonment issue.

"I have an idea what those are." younger Amos mumbled to himself.

_"_**_Come on," I argued. "I mean... even if I believe there's a real thing called magic. Believing in ancient gods is totally different. You're joking, right?"_**

Carter motioned to his ancestor to read on before anyone could comment.

**_But as I said it, I thought about the fiery guy in the museum, the way his face had shifted between human and animal. And the statue of Thoth—how its eyes had followed me._**

_"_**_Carter," Amos said, "the Egyptians would not have been stupid enough to believe in imaginary gods. The beings they described in their myths are very, very real. In the old days, the priests of Egypt would call upon these gods to channel their power and perform great feats. That is the origin of what we now call magic. Like many things, magic was first invented by the Egyptians. Each temple had a branch of magicians called the House of Life. Their magicians were famed throughout the ancient world."_**

_"_**_And you're an Egyptian magician."_**

**_Amos nodded. "So was your father. You saw it for yourself last night."_**

**_I hesitated. It was hard to deny my dad had done some weird stuff at the museum—some stud that looked like magic._**

_"_**_But he's an archaeologist," I said stubbornly._**

"Your stubbornness is showing." Zia whispered to her boyfriend who tried not to grin, this was a family inheritance.

_"_**_That's his cover story. You'll remember that he specialized in translating ancient spells, which are very difficult to understand unless you work magic yourself. Our family, the Kane family, has been part of the House of Life almost since the beginning. And your mother's family is almost as ancient."_**

The other two from the antique who had not figured out that some of here are descendants of at least one of them present here looked with interest at the gathered group, before Narmer continued reading.

_"_**_The Fausts?" I tried to imagine Grandma and Grandpa Faust doing magic, but unless watching rugby on TV and burning cookies was magical, I couldn't see it._**

Said pair only shook their heads at this.

_"_**_They had not practiced magic for many generations," Amos admitted. "Not until your mother came along. But yes, a very ancient bloodline."_**

Both mother and daughter nodded their heads at this.

**_Sadie shook her head in disbelief. "So now Mum was magic, too. Are you joking?"_**

_"_**_No jokes," Amos promised. "The two of you... you combine the blood of two ancient families, both of which have a long, complicated history with the gods. _**

"That is an understatement." replied the members of the two families and the Gods together.

**_you are the most powerful Kane children to be born in many centuries."_**

The siblings nodded at this while those from the past looked at them with wide eyes.

**_I tried to let that sink in. At the moment, I didn't feel powerful. I felt queasy. "You're telling me our parents secretly worshipped animal-headed gods?" I asked._**

"I'm still wondering what the mortals of this time have against our hybrid forms." Anubis muttered to himself, it was annoying.

Suddenly Narmer gasped and looked up in shock.

"You can't mean what stands in here." he said while the Gods turned back to Thoth and glared at him.

"It is the truth, but it seems that soon the old order will return." Iskander said while letting his gaze wander over the magicians and the Gods among their midst.

"Brother, read on." Ashkender told his brother, whatever it was they could not stop because of it, it will come in the far future and will come to pass in this era.

_"_**_Not worshipped," Amos corrected. "By the end of the ancient times, Egyptians had learned that their gods were not to be worshipped._**

The other three from the antique blinked at this as the glares of the Gods become stronger.

**_They are powerful beings, primeval forces, but they are not divine in the sense one might think of God. They are created entities, like mortals, only much more powerful._**

"I made sure that when this line falls that you don't need to fear them deciding to prove you otherwise." Set whispered into Amos's ear who nodded, their allies were easy to offend.

**_We can respect them, fear them, use their power, or even fight them to keep them under control—"_**

Now had the other three from the far past scandalized looks on their faces, but refrained themselves from commenting, they didn't even ear the growls coming from the thrones.

_"_**_Fight_****_ gods?" Sadie interrupted._**

_"_**_Constantly," Amos assured her. "But we don't worship them. Thoth taught us that."_**

Everyone ignored Thoth's yelp when some of his colleagues left their thrones to pounce at him.

**_I looked at Sadie for help. The old guy had to be crazy._**

"Carter, my age has nothing to do with anything and I'm still three years younger then your father, who is at the moment sharing a body with a five thousand years old God." Amos told his nephew while still holding Set beside him so that she doesn't join the other Gods, it would not do good for the baby.

"Uh…sorry." he said seeing how he kind of met people older then his uncle and not looking it.

**_But Sadie was looking like she believed every word._**

"I was kind of trying to make sense out of that what we heard." Sadie said.

_"_**_So..." I said. "Why did Dad break the Rosetta Stone?"_**

Desjardins growled again while the Gods joined the others on their thrones and Thoth started healing himself.

_"_**_Oh, I'm sure he didn't mean to break it," Amos said. "That would've horrified him._**

_"_It _did_ horrify me," Julius said in hopes to placate the French magician, but it didn't seem to do much.

**_In fact, I imagine my brethren in London have repaired the damage by now._**

This on the other hand seemed to work rather well.

**_The curators will soon check their vaults and discover that the Rosetta Stone miraculously survived the explosion."_**

_"_**_But it was blown into a million pieces!" I said. "How could they repair it?"_**

**_Amos picked up a saucer and threw it onto the stone floor. The saucer shattered instantly._**

_"_**_That was _****_to destroy_****_," Amos said. "I could've done it by magic—_****_ha-di_****_—_**

Sadie grinned at the mention of her favorite spell while her uncle wonderd why he had suddenly a bad feeling about telling them this.

**_but it's simpler just to smash it. And now..." Amos held out his hand. "Join. _****_Hi-norm_****_."_**

**_A blue hieroglyphic symbol burned in the air above his palm._**

Amos smiled at this a bit, now his hieroglyphs had a crimson colour to them.

**_The pieces of the saucer flew into his hand and reassembled like a puzzle, even the smallest bits of dust gluing themselves into place. Amos put the perfect saucer back on the table._**

_"_**_Some trick," I managed. I tried to sound calm about it, but I was thinking of all the odd things that had happened to my dad and me over the years, like those gunmen_**

Ruby scowled at the reminder.

**_in the Cairo hotel who'd ended up hanging by their feet from a chandelier. Was it possible my dad had made that happen with some kind of spell?_**

"It had been." older Julius said in confirmation.

**_Amos poured milk in the saucer, and put it on the floor. Muffin came padding over. "At any rate, your father would never intentionally damage a relic. He simply didn't realize how much power the Rosetta Stone contained. You see, as Egypt faded, _**

Here those from the antique flinched again while the others gave them sympathetic looks, knowing that this must be hard on them.

**_its magic collected and concentrated into its remaining relics. Most of these, of course, are still in Egypt. But you can find some in almost every major museum. A magician can use these artifacts as focal points to work more powerful spells."_**

_"_**_I don't get it," I said._**

"I do now."

**_Amos spread his hands. "I'm sorry, Carter. It takes years of study to understand magic, and I'm trying to explain it to you in a single morning. The important thing is, for the past six years your father has been looking for a way to summon Osiris, and last night he thought he had found the right artifact to do it."_**

"I did, but failed to see that Osiris may not be the only one in it." older Julius said with a sheepish grin, he had been kind of to focused on Osiris to think about the others.

_"_**_Wait, why did he want Osiris?"_**

**_Sadie gave me a troubled look. "Carter, Osiris was the lord of the dead. Dad was talking about making things right. He was talking about Mum."_**

**_Suddenly the morning seemed colder. The fire pit sputtered in the wind coming off the river._**

_"_**_He wanted to bring Mom back from the dead?" I said._**

"I admit that it had crossed my mind, but after joining with Osiris I understood that this would be a terrible thing to do." Julius admitted, if a life is gone then had no one the right to force it to return, the dead should stay dead.

_"_**_But that's crazy!"_**

**_Amos hesitated. "It would've been dangerous. Inadvisable. Foolish. But not crazy. Your father is a powerful magician. If, in fact, that is what he was after, he might have accomplished it, using the power of Osiris."_**

Both Juliuses smiled at their younger brothers, knowing that it was not easy for them to admit this because they parents had often concentrated more on the progress of their oldest son then on that of their youngest which had lasted hard on Amos. Looking back on this did they note again a similarity between the Eye and his God.

**_I stared at Sadie. "You're actually buying this?"_**

_"_**_You saw the magic at the museum. The fiery bloke. Dad summoned something from the stone."_**

_"_**_Yeah," I said, thinking of my dream. "But that wasn't Osiris, was it?"_**

_"_**_No," Amos said. "Your father got more than he bargained for. He did release the spirit of Osiris. In fact, I think he successfully joined with the god—"_**

_"_**_Joined with?"_**

**_Amos held up his hand. "Another long conversation._**

"I should have gotten to that one sooner." Amos said while shaking his head, that mistake had also caused some problems.

"You did not know that it would take that long to get to that one." Carter told his uncle.

"What happened?" younger Julius asked worriedly, but the others only shook their heads.

**_For now, let's just say he drew the power of Osiris into himself. But he never got the chance to use it because, according to what Sadie has told me, it appears that Julius released _****_five_****_ gods from the Rosetta Stone. Five gods who were all trapped together."_**

Said Gods shuddered at the memory.

**_I glanced at Sadie. "You told him everything?"_**

_"_**_He's going to help us, Carter."_**

**_I wasn't quite ready to trust this guy, even if he was our uncle, but I decided I didn't have much choice._**

_"_**_Okay, yeah," I said. "The fiery guy said something like 'You released all five.' What did he mean?"_**

**_Amos sipped his coffee. The faraway look on his face reminded me of my dad._**

"Seeing that we are brothers." older Julius said with a small smile.

_"_**_I don't want to scare you."_**

_"_**_Too late."_**

_"_**_The gods of Egypt are very dangerous. _**

Said Gods grinned at this, taking the words as a compliment for their strength.

**_For the last two thousand years or so, we magicians have spent much of our time binding and banishing them whenever they appear._**

And now they looked darkly at the ground while those from the antique looked again horrified, they could not imagine betraying their Gods like this.

**_In fact, our most important law, issued by Chief Lector Iskandar in Roman times, forbids unleashing the gods or using their power._**

Said man flinched slightly when he saw the four from the far past look at him, but strangely the Gods, those who had the most ground to be angered with him had returned to glare at Thoth and not him.

**_Your father broke that law once before."_**

**_Sadie's face paled. "Does this have something to do with Mum's death? Cleopatra's Needle in London?"_**

_"_**_It has _****_everything_****_ to do with that, Sadie. Your parents... well, they thought they were doing something good._**

"And you did, it helped save the world." Sadie said while looking at her mother who was held tightly by their father.

**_They took a terrible risk, and it cost your mother her life. Your father took the blame. He was exiled, I suppose you would say. Banished. He was forced to move around constantly because the House monitored his activities. They feared he would continue his... research. As indeed he did."_**

"And what have they done to you only because you were my brother?" older Julius asked so low that only Osiris could hear him.

**_I thought about the times Dad would look over his shoulder as he copied some ancient inscriptions, or wake me up at three or four in the morning and insist it was time to change hotels, or warn me not to look in his workbag or copy certain pictures from old temple walls—as if our lives depended on it._**

"Looking now back on it, in the end our lives really depended on those." Carter said in a thoughtful tone, they had needed the Demon Days and all the other Gods to fight Apophis.

_"_**_Is that why you never came round?" Sadie asked Amos. "Because Dad was banished?"_**

"Now you kind of see the complication." Sadie told he younger version of her uncle who nodded in understanding.

_"_**_The House forbade me to see him. I loved Julius. It hurt me to stay away from my brother, from you children. But I could not see you—until last night, when I simply had no choice but to try to help. Julius has been obsessed with finding Osiris for years. He was consumed with grief because of what happened to your mother. When I learned that Julius was about to break the law again, to try to set things right, I had to stop him._**

Ruby gave her brother-in-law a thankful smile, he had always been a considerate and kind person who took care about others.

**_A second offense would've meant a death sentence. Unfortunately, I failed. I should've known he was too stubborn."_**

"It seems to be kind of a family trait." Walt said while smiling as Sadie punched him in the arm, those who knew the Kanes only nodded in agreement.

**_I looked down to my plate. My food had gotten cold. Muffin leaped onto the table and rubbed against my hand. When I didn't object, she started eating my bacon._**

_"_**_Last night at the museum," I said, "the girl with the knife,_**

Zia flinched and Carter pulled her closer.

**_the man with the forked beard—they were magicians too? From the House of Life?"_**

_"_**_Yes," Amos said. "Keeping an eye on your father. You are fortunate they let you go."_**

_"_**_The girl wanted to kill us," I remembered._**

Carter tightened his hold on his girlfriend.

_"_**_But the guy with the beard said, _****_not yet_****_."_**

Desjardins scowled at being addressed like this, but didn't comment.

_"_**_They don't kill unless it is absolutely necessary," Amos said. "They will wait to see if you are a threat."_**

_"_**_Why would we be a threat?" Sadie demanded. "We're children! The summoning wasn't our idea."_**

Some gave Sadie incredulous looks as she blushed, they may be children, but they had done pretty many things most adults would never dare.

**_Amos pushed away his plate. "There is a reason you two were raised separately."_**

Ruby sat up straighter at this while the siblings winced and waved to their dad that he should grab her and if possible not let go.

_"_**_Because the Fausts took Dad to court," I said matter-of-factly. "And Dad lost."_**

_"_**_It was much more than that," Amos said. "The House insisted you two be separated. Your father wanted to keep you both, even though he knew how dangerous it was."_**

**_Sadie looked like she'd been smacked between the eyes. "He did?"_**

Ruby went for suddenly stiff in Julius's arms as her eyes slowly turned to the side while Desjardins decided to scoot a bit farther away and to keep the Chief Lector out of harm's way.

_"_**_Of course. But the House intervened and made sure your grandparents got custody of you, Sadie._**

And this was the last drop.

"YOU WERE THE ONES WHO SEPERATED MY CHILDREN!" Ruby yelled furiously as she tried to get out from Julius's hold, but he held on tightly.

"Ruby dear, it won't do Carter good if you frustrate yourself even more, the spell gives a kind of protection for the baby from emotional stress, but the more stress the mother feels the more the seal weakens, this is why I will need to apply it more then once." Tawaret said in a kind tone as she managed to get the fuming woman's attention. "Also, don't forget that those two gentlemen come from a time where they had not done this at the given time, one can not be held responsible for the thins they will do in the future." she finished and Ruby stopped struggling.

"Fine, I will keep listening to the books." she said while others gave the Hippo Goddess thankful looks.

_**If you and Carter were raised together, you could become very powerful. Perhaps you have already sensed changes over the past day."**_

_**I thought about the surges of strength I'd been feeling, and the way Sadie suddenly seemed to know how to read Ancient Egyptian. Then I thought of something even further back.**_

_"**Your sixth birthday," I told Sadie.**_

_"**The cake," she said immediately, the memory passing between us like an electric spark.**_

_**At Sadie's sixth birthday party, the last one we'd shared as a family, Sadie and I had a huge argument. I don't remember what it was about. I think I wanted to blow out the candles for her.**_

_**We started yelling. She grabbed my shirt. I pushed her. I remember Dad rushing toward us, trying to intervene, but before he could, Sadie's birthday cake exploded. Icing splattered the walls, our parents, the faces of Sadie's little six-year-old friends. Dad and Mom separated us. They sent me to my room. Later, they said we must've hit the cake by accident as we were fighting, but I knew we hadn't. Something much weirder had made it explode, as if it had responded to our anger. I remembered Sadie crying with a chunk of cake on her forehead, an upside-down candle stuck to the ceiling with its wick still burning, and an adult visitor, one of my parents' friends, his glasses speckled with white frosting.**_

"We had not exactly expected those results, and to bad that the cake got ruined." older Amos said while those from the past stared in shock at the siblings.

"They are certainly powerful." Desjardins noted, no wonder the House had wanted to separated them when they banned Julius.

**_I turned to Amos. "That was you. You were at Sadie's party."_**

_"_**_Vanilla icing," he recalled. "Very tasty. But it was clear even then that you two would be difficult to raise in the same household."_**

"Wonderful now I don't only need to make the apartment baby safe, but also magic safe." younger Julius mumbled to himself, but he was also proud about his kids.

_"_**_And so..." I faltered. "What happens to us now?"_**

**_I didn't want to admit it, but I couldn't stand the thought of being separated from Sadie again. She wasn't much, but she was all I had._**

Ruby smiled at this, glad that her children had so fast gotten over their rift.

_"_**_You must be trained properly," Amos said, "whether the House approves or not."_**

"In other words, you would have gone against the House to keep them with you and train them." Desjardins said while he did his best to keep his tone impassive.

"Yes, though I only could train them for some time, other matters kind of got in the way." older Amos replied mysteriously.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Book one and two will give you the answer." Amos replied back, the end of he second book will give them the most shock, he was not really happy that he left the cape in the First Nome.

_"_**_Why wouldn't they approve?" I asked._**

_"_**_I will explain everything, don't worry. But we must start your lessons if we are to stand any chance of finding your father and putting things right. Otherwise the entire world is in danger. If we only knew where—"_**

_"_**_Phoenix," I blurted out._**

"For a few seconds I was kind of confused about what you meant." Amos told his nephew, he had been not sure if Carter meant the animal, city or a metaphor.

**_Amos stared at me. "What?"_**

_"_**_Last night I had... well, not a dream, exactly..." I felt stupid, but I told him what had happened while I slept._**

**_Judging from Amos's expression, the news was even worse than I thought._**

_"_**_You're _****_sure_****_ he said 'birthday present'?" he asked._**

_"_**_Yeah, but what does that mean?"_**

_"_**_And a permanent host," Amos said. "He didn't have one yet?"_**

"_I was waiting for the right one." _Set spoke through their link so that no one could overhear, though she didn't count on it that after that statement would Amos need a good deal of his willpower to keep himself from blushing. And Set told him that he used double meaning comments.

_"_**_Well, that's what the rooster-footed guy said—"_**

_"_**_That was a demon," Amos said. "A minion of chaos. And if demons are coming through to the mortal world, we don't have much time. This is bad, very bad."_**

_"_**_If you live in Phoenix," I said._**

_"_**_Carter, our enemy won't stop at Phoenix. If he's grown so powerful so fast... What did he say about the storm, exactly?"_**

_"_**_He said: 'I will summon the greatest storm ever known.'"_**

**_Amos scowled. "The last time he said that, he created the Sahara. _**

"I don't see what the problem is, beside that discuss it with the one who had decided to rile me up and start a fight right on the day I got served a lovely lye." Set said while looking over at Horus how was shifting in his throne and Nephthys who again had her head bowed.

"Great, I'm partly the fault for the existence of the Sahara." Anubis mumbled to himself, really nice to know how informed people kept him.

"One learns with Gods something every day." Sadie said while shaking her head.

**_A storm that large could destroy North America, generating enough chaos to give him an almost invincible form."_**

"That would have been the better option." replied a good deal of people form the present which confused those from the past.

_"_**_What are you talking about? Who _****_is_****_ this guy?"_**

**_Amos waved away the question. "More important right now: why didn't you sleep with the headrest?"_**

"You will certainly make a good father." Ruby said with a small giggle while both Amoses blushed, the older one even more when he heard Set laugh in his head.

**_I shrugged. "It was uncomfortable." I looked at Sadie for support. "You didn't use it, did you?"_**

**_Sadie rolled her eyes. "Well, of course I did. It was _****_obviously_****_ there for a reason."_**

**_Sometimes I really hate my sister._**

**_[Ow! That's my foot!]_**

The Sadie of the present did just the same as in the past.

_"_**_Carter," Amos said, "sleep is dangerous. It's a doorway into the Duat."_**

_"_**_Lovely," Sadie grumbled. "Another strange word."_**

_"_**_Ah... yes, sorry," Amos said. "The Duat is the world of spirits and magic. It exists beneath the waking world like a vast ocean, with many layers and regions. We submerged just under its surface last night to reach New York, because travel through the Duat is much faster. Carter, your consciousness also passed through its shallowest currents as you slept, which is how you witnessed what happened in Phoenix. Fortunately, you survived that experience._**

Both Ruby and Zia nodded their heads furrioulsy.

**_But the deeper you go into the Duat, the more horrible things you encounter, and the more difficult it is to return. There are entire realms filled with demons, palaces where the gods exist in their pure forms, so powerful their mere presence would burn a human to ashes. _**

"That reminds me, if a demigod tells you to turn away, then do it because it means that one of their Gods is coming or going and at that time they take up their pure forms." Set informed the initiates who nodded their heads in understanding.

**_There are prisons that hold beings of unspeakable evil, and some chasms so deep and chaotic that not even the gods dare explore them._**

"Hades kind of says that if Nico should ever appear here saying that he is doing some investigations, that we should not let him anywhere near the Duat, finding out how he had taken a trip into Tartarus gave his father a heart attack and nearly a nervous breakdown to boot, so he would be grateful is that experience doesn't occur again in a different Pantheon's deepest hell." Set whispered to Amos who nodded his head.

**_Now that your powers are stirring, you must not sleep without protection, or you leave yourself open to attacks from the Duat or... unintended journeys through it. The headrest is enchanted, to keep your consciousness anchored to your body."_**

_"_**_You mean I actually _****_did_****_..." My mouth tasted like metal. "Could he have killed me?"_**

"Yes." everyone said.

**_Amos's expression was grave. "The fact that your soul can travel like that means you are progressing faster than I thought. Faster than should be possible. If the Red Lord had noticed you—"_**

_"_**_The Red Lord?" Sadie said. "That's the fiery bloke?"_**

"At least someone used a proper name for me." Set said, glad that this was over with that idiotic name calling.

**_Amos rose. "I must find our more. We can't simply wait for him to find you. And if he releases the storm on his birthday, at the height of his powers—"_**

_"_**_You mean you're going to Phoenix?" I could barely get the words out. "Amos, that fiery man defeated Dad like his magic was a joke! Now he's got demons, and he's getting stronger, and—you'll be killed!"_**

"Strangely I'm feeling pretty much alive at the moment." older Amos said jokingly, but he knew that he will soon have to deal with an emotional Set, a down part of pregnancies are the hormones and it seemed that they cause Set to have problems keeping up her mask and to show her deeper feelings which only Ra had known about and maybe Bast to a certain degree.

**_Amos gave me a dry smile, like he'd already weighed the dangers and didn't need a reminder. His expression reminded me painfully of Dad's. "Don't count your uncle out so quickly, Carter. _**

Said person nodded, his uncle was anything, but week he had proven that enough times.

**_I've got some magic of my own. Besides, I must see what is happening for myself if we're to have any chance at saving your father and stopping the Red Lord. I'll be quick and careful. Just stay here. Muffin will guard you."_**

"The cat?" some asked in confusion.

**_I blinked. "The cat will guard us?_**

There were some nods at this.

**_You can't just leave us here! What about our training?"_**

_"_**_When I return," Amos promised. "Don't worry, the mansion is protected. Just do not leave. Do not be tricked into opening the door for anyone. And whatever happens, _****_do not_****_ go into the library. I absolutely forbid it. I will be back by sunset."_**

"Why do I have the bothersome feeling that I should have left those lines about the library out?" Amos asked himself while his nephew and niece gave him innocent smiles. "Yes, I definitely forgot that one of them may be to much like a certain girl who if hearing the word forbidden would immediately go for it the moment she gets the opportunity." he finished while Ruby blushed bright red, mostly when she saw her parents nod in agreement.

**_Before we could protest, Amos walked calmly to the edge of the terrace and jumped._**

"You could have warned us." Carter told his uncle who smiled back at him.

_"_**_No!" Sadie screamed. We ran to the railing and looked over. Below was a hundred-foot drop into the East River. There was no sign of Amos. He'd simply vanished._**

**_Philip of Macedonia splashed in his pool. Muffin jumped onto the railing and insisted we pet her._**

**_We were alone in a strange mansion with a baboon, a crocodile, and a weird cat. And apparently, the entire world was in danger._**

**_I looked at Sadie. "What do we do now?"_**

**_She crossed her arms. "Well, that's obvious, isn't it? We explore the library."_**

"Knew it." Amos said sighing.

"This was the end of the chapter." Narmer spoke up.

"Julius, you read the next one." Ruby told her husband who nodded and walked over to his ancestor and took the book back to where his group sat.

_To be continued…_


	7. Julius and shabti making don't mix

A/N: This chapter will be kind of a dual-emotion chapter and please remember this is in a way an AU story.

* * *

VII. Julius and shabti making don't mix

Julius looked down at the chapter title and needed to raise an eyebrow, if he counted right, was this chapter and the following one in Sadie's pov and judging from what he saw here, the two made it into the library and rummaged through his bag.

Just great.

"Julius, could you please start reading now?" Ruby asked her husband who finally noticed that everyone was looking at him.

"Ah, sorry dear, the next two chapters will be again in Sadie's pov." he said while his daughter bit back a groan as she remembered some of her comments in this chapter and her uncle would find out how she destroyed the library door.

**_I Drop a Little Man on His Head_**

Some people looked confused at the title, but let Julius continue reading.

**_Honestly, Carter is so thick sometimes I can't believe we're related._**

"Deal with it, sis" Carter said smirking at his sister who rolled her eyes at him.

**_I mean when someone says _****_I forbid it_****_, that's a good sign it's worth doing._**

"Or dangerous." Ruby said while looking sternly at her daughter.

"Hypocrite." Amos mouthed to Julius who nodded his head, both remembered some of the misadventures the now scolding mother had dragged them, or mostly Julius into.

**_I made for the library straightaway._**

_"_**_Hold on!" Carter cried. "You can't just—"_**

"I should not have bothered." Carter said with a shake of his head.

_"_**_Brother dear," I said, "did your soul leave your body again while Amos was talking, or did you actually _****_hear_****_ him? Egyptian gods _****_real_****_. Red Lord _****_bad_****_. Red Lord's birthday: very soon, very bad._**

Set pouted at this, but did not comment when suddenly Julius let out a snort while shaking his head.

"Uh…before dad continues I only want to say sorry." Sadie said with a sheepish smile on her lips and waved to the younger version of her father to continue.

**_House of Life: fussy old magicians who hate our family because Dad was a bit of a rebel, whom by the way you could take a lesson from._**

"Excuse us!" Desjardins exclaimed before he glowered at Julius. "She is definitely yours."

"Thank you for the compliment." Julius said and hurried on reading.

**_Which leaves us—_****_just_****_ us—with Dad missing, an evil god about to destroy the world, and an uncle who just jumped off the building_**

Some could not help themselves and started snickering while Amos only shook his head.

**—****_and I _****_can't_****_ actually blame him."_**

This made even more people laugh and Amos was again contemplating to hide his face in Set's hair.

**_I took a breath. _**

**_[Yes, Carter, I do have to breath occasionally.]_**

Cue more laughter.

_"_**_Am I missing anything? Oh, yes, I also have a brother who is supposedly quite powerful from an ancient bloodline, blah, blah, et cetera, but is too afraid to visit a library. Now, coming or not?"_**

"I remember hearing this sentence, right before something happened usually not much good, resulted in long rounds of scolding." Julius said while beside him Ruby hit his arm.

"It didn't end always in scolding." she told him.

"Yes, there was a time it ended with Julius covered with hoof prints, slightly signed and you looking like someone who took a baht in a wheat field and proceeded to muddiving." younger Amos said snickering at the embarrassed pair while the others stared at them incrediously.

"What happened!" the siblings demanded to know.

"Long, long story, but seeing how we have three books here is there no time for that." Julius said and hurried on reading before someone could ask Amos to tell them, he had no doubt that his brother would do that for revenge.

**_Carter blinked as if I'd just hit him, which I suppose I had in a way._**

"Sorry Carter." Sadie told her brother who only shook his head.

"This was years ago, we are fine now." he told her, at that time had her words kind of hurt, but he was over it now.

_"_**_I just..." He faltered. "I just think we should be careful."_**

**_I realized the poor boy was quite scared, which I couldn't hold against him, but it did startle me. Carter was my _****_big_****_ brother after all—older, more sophisticated, the one who traveled the world with Dad. Big brothers are the ones who are supposed to pull their punches. Little sisters—well, we should be able to hit as hard as we like, shouldn't we? But I realized that possibly, just possibly, I'd been a bit harsh with him._**

"Ok, I was pretty harsh with him." Sadie said when catching some of the looks she was getting, mostly from her mom and Zia.

_"_**_Look," I said. "We need to help Dad, yes? There's got to be some powerful stuff in that library, otherwise Amos wouldn't keep it locked up. You do want to help Dad?"_**

**_Carter shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah... of course."_**

**_Well, that was one problem sorted, so we headed for the library. But as soon as Khufu saw what we were up to, he scrambled off the sofa with his basketball and jumped in front of the library doors. Who knew baboons were so speedy?_**

"They are quiet agile." Thoth said grinning while older Amos nodded his head.

"They certainly are, mostly when they get into the phase as they grow when they don't want to get bathed." Amos said remembering how he needed to hunt Khufu down and drag him to the bathroom, mostly after rainy days.

"It must have been not easy catching him." Rachel said in sympathy, even from the attic and what they had read in the book so far could she tell that this house was really large, so hunting down a baby baboon all alone would have even for a magician been hard.

"It certainly wasn't." Amos said while he tried not to smirk at the kids and some of the Gods who were busy shuddering.

"Try hunting down a mouse, it is worse." Jaz replied shuddering at the memory, she needed to treat some people who had hit their heads when bumping into doors, walls or furniture.

"Mouse?" Ruby asked slightly perplexed while the kids and some of the Gods blushed.

"You know, when Thoth first found out that Horus took the wrong potion from him he come to the mansion and told us after seeing the bottle, that it would change the drinker, but he did not know into what." Zia started explaining their embarrassing misadventure. "This of course meant that we had no clue what Set could be and this is when we spotted a mouse with slightly red fur, which was because of it wandering into Shelby's room and getting dustpaint on its fur, but we thought that we found him and tried getting the mouse so that Thoth can change him back. After forbidding that anyone turns into a bird of prey, we kind of spent three full days running after it till Amos returned with Set." Zia finished explaining as those from the past stared wide eyed at the embarrassed looking group.

"I only wondered why Brooklyn House looked like a battle field with other additions." Amos said with a shrug, at that time was he still feeling a bit embarrassed about what had happened between him and Set, even if he could not remember, they kind of had enough evidence to know at least some things they possibly did.

"Dad, please continue." Sadie said in an embarrassed tone and luckily Julius complied, but he sounded still slightly dazed.

**_He barked at us, and I have to say baboons have _****_enormous_****_ fangs. And they're not any prettier when they've been chewing up exotic pink birds._**

**_Carter tried to reason with him._**

"That is certainly something your uncle would do." Julius noted while looking up from the book at both his son and brother, the former looking pleased that he shared this trait with his uncle.

"May have something to do with it, that I was most of the time Carter's babysitter when he was still little." Amos said while his nephew turned to him.

"Really?" he asked in a stunned tone.

"Yes, you were also a few times here in Brooklyn House, but at that time had you been still a baby and can't remember it." Amos told him.

_"_**_Khufu, we're not going to steal anything. We just want—"_**

_"_**_Agh!_****_" Khufu dribbled his basketball angrily._**

_"_**_Carter," I said, "you're not helping. Look here, Khufu. I have... ta-da!" I held up the little yellow box of cereal I'd taken from the buffet table. "Cheerios! Ends with _****_–o._**

"Wonderful, my twelve years old niece bribes my baboon with a box of cereal." younger Amos groaned before looking over at his sister-in-law. "Why can I see you doing something similar." he told her while both mother and daughter blushed, Sadie rally enjoyed experiencing first hand how much she had in common with her mom.

**_Yumsies!"_**

_"_**_Aghhh!" Khufu grunted, more excited now than angry._**

_"_**_Want it?" I coaxed. "Just take it to the couch and pretend you didn't see us, yes?"_**

**_I threw the cereal towards the couch, and the baboon lunged after it. He grabbed the box in midair and was so excited, he ran straight up the wall and sat on the fireplace mantel, where he began gingerly picking out Cheerios and eating them on at a time._**

**_Carter looked at me with grudging admiration. "How did you—"_**

_"_**_Some of us think ahead._**

Amos only shook his head at this and could only hope that the damage would not be too great.

**_Now, let's open these doors."_**

**_That was not so easily done. They were made of thick wood laced with giant steel chains and padlocked. _****_Complete_****_ overkill._**

"I should have also put up some locking seals." older Amos mumbled while both Carter and Sadie avoided his gaze.

**_Carter stepped forward. He tried to raise the doors by lifting his hand, which had been quite impressive the night before, only now accomplishing nothing._**

**_He shook the chains the old-fashioned way, then yanked on the padlocks._**

_"_**_No good," he said._**

**_Ice needles tingled on the back of my neck. It was almost as if someone—or something—was whispering an idea in my head._**

Now Amos turned his gaze to Isis who copied her host and avoided his gaze.

**_"What was that word Amos used at breakfast with the saucer?"_**

_"_**_For 'join'?" Carter said. "_****_Hi-nehm_****_ or something."_**

"Unfortunately was this not the word she had been asking for." Amos said, he could now only hope that they don't get any of the more dangerous, trapped scrolls into their hands or he would never be able to forgive himself if they got hurt.

_"_**_No, the other one, for 'destroy'."_**

_"_**_Uh, _****_ha-di_****_._**

Amos gave up on commenting and just buried his face into Set's hair, who patted him on the back with an amused smile on her lips.

**_But you'd need to know magic and the hieroglyphics, wouldn't you? And even then—"_**

**_I raised my hand toward the door. I pointed with two fingers and my thumb—an odd gesture I'd never made before, like a make-believe except with the thumb parallel to the ground._**

_"_**_Ha-di!_****_"_**

**_Bright gold hieroglyphs burned against the largest padlock._**

**_And the doors exploded. Carter hit the floor_**

"Were you hurt?" asked the worried parents and partners, older Amos still didn't look up from his hiding place, but Set could hear him mumble against her skin.

"It was mostly the shockwave from the blast, we were not hurt." Carter told his worried family hurriedly.

"I didn't know that it would be this effective." Sadie admitted while Isis tried to not be noticed, she had lent Sadie a bit too much of her energy because she didn't know how strong the spell would be if she cast it without any training or magical knowledge.

**_as chains shattered and splinters flew all over the Great Room. When the dust cleared, Carter got up, covered in wood shavings. I seemed to be fine. Muffin circled my feet, mewing contentedly, as if this were all very normal._**

"Uhuh…for her that certainly is" Set said before adding in a lower tone "mostly after she had witnessed me blowing up the door to Ra's study, because she could not open it with her claws and we were curious about what it was like in there."

**"****_Great, don't ever let Sadie hear this story from either you or Bast." _****Amos told her through their link. **

**_Carter stared at me. "How exactly—"_**

_"_**_Don't know," I admitted. "But the library's open."_**

_"_**_Think you overdid it a little?_**

"Little is an understatement." Desjardins noted, that door was completely wrecked.

**_We're going to be in so much trouble—"_**

_"_**_We'll just figure out a way to zap the door back, won't we?"_**

_"_**_No more zapping, please," Carter said. "That explosion could've kill us."_**

"Yes it could have!" their family and partners said in union.

_"_**_Oh, do you think if you tried that spell on a person—"_**

"NO!" screamed their family and Sadie covered slightly, now she knew that it would be a horrible thing to do, it was even as a joke cruel.

_"_**_No!" He stepped back nervously._**

**_I felt gratified that I could make him squirm,_**

Before anyone could say again something to Sadie, Set spoke up in a thoughtful tone.

"I think Isis was getting to you at that time." she told her at which his sister huffed in annoyance, but her host nodded her head, thankful for the save.

"It could be." she answered and was glad when she saw her parents relax.

**_but I tried not to smile._**

"It looked as if you would be grimacing." Carter told his sister.

_"_**_Let's just explore the library, shall we?"_**

**_The truth was, I couldn't have _****_ha-di_****_-ed anyone. As soon as I stepped forward, I felt so faint that I almost collapsed._**

**_Carter caught me as I stumbled._**

"And this is why it is dangerous to use advanced spells if you hadn't even done magic before, with the help of a Goddess or without." Ruby told her daughter who nodded her head, she had learned her lesson.

_"_**_You okay?"_**

_"_**_Fine," I managed, though I didn't feel fine. "I'm tired"—my stomach rumbled—"and famished."_**

"A normal side effect, you have drained yourself."

_"_**_You just ate a huge breakfast."_**

**_It was true, but I felt as if I hadn't had food in weeks._**

_"_**_Never mind," I told him. "I'll manage."_**

**_Carter studied skeptically. "Those hieroglyphs you created were golden._**

"I was kind of stunned because of the colour and kind of also curious." Carter explained when everyone turned in his direction.

**_Dad and Amos both used blue. Why?"_**

_"_**_Maybe everyone has his own color," I suggested._**

"That is correct, each magician has their own colour, it will change if they start to specialise in a field or start following the Path of a God, the colour kind of shows which God one had an alliance with." Iskander explained while letting his eyes sweep over the gathered magicians, they rested longer on those about whom he knew which God they follow.

_"_**_Maybe you'll get hot pink."_**

"WHAT! That is NOT my colour!" Horus yelled in horror at the thought of his favoured one having hot pink hieroglyphs.

"Horus, you remember that this was kind of years ago, right?" Carter asked the God as she flushed in embarrassment.

"Uh…yeah, of course I remember." Horus said hurriedly while the others looked at him doubtfully.

_"_**_Very funny."_**

_"_**_Come on, pink wizard," I said. "Inside we go."_**

**_The library was so amazing, I almost forgot my dizziness._**

"It certainly is one of the best beside the Great Library in the First Nome." Thoth said in confirmation while Cleo nodded her head eagerly from beside her boyfriend who gave her an amused look.

**_It was bigger than I'd imagined, a round chamber sunk deep into solid rock, like a giant well. This didn't make sense, as the mansion was sitting on top of a warehouse, but then again nothing else about the place was exactly normal._**

"Which is brilliant." the Kane siblings and their initiates chorused happily.

**_From the platform where we stood, a staircase descended three stories to the bottom floor. The walls, floor, and domed ceiling were all decorated with multicolored pictures of people, gods, and monsters. I'd seen such illustrations in Dad's books (yes, all right, sometimes when I was in the Piccadilly bookshop I'd wander into the Egypt section and sneak a look at Dad's books, just to feel some connection to him, not because I wanted to read them)_**

"I'm sorry dear." Julius said while looking at his daughter, but Sadie waved him of.

"I understand now dad and as it was already said a good few time, this is all in the past." she told him and this was the truth, she was fine with her life and how it had turned out.

**_but the pictures in the books had always been faded and smudged. These in the library looked newly painted, making the entire room a work of art._**

_"_**_It's beautiful," I said._**

"Agreed."

**_A blue starry sky glittered on the ceiling, but it wasn't a solid field of blue. Rather, the sky was painted in a strange swirling pattern. I realized it was shaped like a woman. She lay curled on her side—her body, arms, and legs dark blue and dotted with stars._**

"Mom." the five siblings said in union, thought Set had spoken much softer, in the past days had her mother tried taking contact up with her, but she refused to answer.

**_Below, the library floor was done in a similar way, the green-and-brown earth shaped into a man's body, dotted with forests and hills and cities. A river snaked across his chest._**

"Dad." the siblings said while Amos gently squeezed Set's hand, he knew that the God was still angry at his father for what he did and he really couldn't blame him for feeling like that.

**_The library had no books. Not even bookshelves. Instead, the walls were honeycombed with round cubbyholes, each one holding a sort of plastic cylinder._**

**_At each of the four compass points, a ceramic statue stood on a pedestal._**

**_The statues were half-size humans wearing kilts and sandals, with glossy black wedge-shaped haircuts and black eyeliner around their eyes._**

**_[Carter says the eyeliner stuff is called kohl, as if it matters.]_**

"Dad, don't stop reading." Sadie told the younger version of her father while her brother looked at her in amusement.

**_At any rate, one statue held a stylus and scroll. Another held a box. Another held a short, hooked staff. The last was empty-handed._**

_"_**_Sadie." Carter pointed to the center of the room, sitting on a long stone table was Dad's workbag._**

**_Carter started down the stairs, but I grabbed his arm. "Hang on. What about traps?"_**

**_He frowned. "Traps?"_**

"Carter, I hope that you didn't think that I would not have traps set up in the library?" Amos asked his nephew, fine most of them were on some of the scrolls, but still there were traps, hopefully they didn't go to far inside.

"I was kind of somewhere else with my thoughts." Carter replied sheepishly.

_"_**_Didn't Egyptian tombs have traps?"_**

_"_**_Well... sometimes. But this isn't a tomb? Besides, more often they had curses, like the burning curse, the donkey curse—"_**

Both Juliuses flinched as they remembered their encounter with that peculiar curse, Ruby only looked sheepishly at her husband while Set gave a smirk at Horus who was cursing his past self for daring his brother to make a curse with one of his symbol animals.

_"_**_Oh, lovely. That sounds so much better."_**

**_He trotted down the steps, which made me feel quite ridiculous, as I'm usually the one to forge ahead._**

**Carter only smiled smugly at his sister who did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out at him.**

**_But I supposed if someone had to get cursed with a burning skin rash or attacked by a magical donkey, it was better Carter than me._**

"Sadie, not magical donkeys" younger Julius spoke up, flinching at the memory "magical, fireball breathing donkeys." at this stared everyone beside those who knew who made that curse gaping at him.

**_We made it to the middle of the room with no excitement. Carter opened the bag. Still no traps or curses. He brought out the strange box Dad had used in the British Museum._**

**_It was made of wood, and about the right size to hold a loaf of French bread._**

**_The lid was decorated much like the library, with gods and monsters and sideways-walking people._**

_"_**_How did the Egyptians move like that?" I wondered. "All sideways with their arms and legs out. It seems quite silly."_**

"Excuse us?" come it from the four of the antique as they looked at the girl who held up her hands in surrender.

"I was still new to all of this and it was kind of hard to believe things." Sadie tried to explain herself and was only saved when Julius started reading again.

**_Carter gave me one of his _****_God, you're stupid_****_ looks._**

_"_**_They didn't walk like that in real life, Sadie."_**

_"_**_Well, why are they painted like that, then?"_**

"I explain." Carter said when he saw Ramses open his mouth to elaborate.

_"_**_They thought paintings were like magic. If you painted yourself, you had to show all your arms and legs. Otherwise, in the afterlife you might be reborn without all your pieces."_**

The four on the sofa nodded their heads.

_"_**_Then why the sideways faces? They never look straight at you. Doesn't that mean they'll lose the other side of their face?"_**

**_Carter hesitated. "I think they were afraid the picture would be _****_too_****_ human if it was looking right at you. It might try to _****_become_****_ you."_**

The four nodded again, there had been some unfortunate incidents where this had really happened and it was only sheer luck that the truth had come out in the end before more damage could be done.

_"_**_So is there anything they _****_weren't_****_ afraid of?"_**

_"_**_Little sisters," Carter said. "If they talked too much, the Egyptians threw them to the crocodiles."_**

"Unfortunately not." said Ramses as he remembered five of his little sisters giving him a makeover when they were young, it had been humiliating to say at least when his tutor found him and asked him if he would like to talk with him about his desire to be a princess anstead of a prince.

The others meanwhile were laughing at the sarcastic comment so they didn't hear him.

**_He had me for a second. I wasn't used to him displaying a sense of humor. Then I punched him. "Just open the bloody box."_**

"Language." Ruby chided while by the armchairs leaned her mother closer to her husband.

"I was kind of waiting for the day she finds out what she had put me through." she whispered to Mr. Faust.

"I only wish that she would have found that out with another man." Mr. Faust whispered back to his wife, would it have been bad to marry a normal person and not a fellow magician?

**_The first thing he pulled out was a lump of white gunk._**

_"_**_Wax," Carter pronounced._**

_"_**_Fascinating." I picked up a wooden stylus and a palette with small indentations in its surface for ink, then a few glass jars of the ink itself—black, red, and gold. "And a prehistoric painting set."_**

"Those are useful to have with you." Julius said while the other magicians nodded.

"I know that now." Sadie said, really was it so hard to understand that this was all years ago when she had no clue about her family history?

**_Carter pulled out several lengths of brown twine, a small ebony cat statue, and a thick roll of paper. No, not paper. Papyrus. I remembered Dad explaining how the Egyptians made it from a river plant because they never invented paper. The stuff was so thick and rough, it made me wonder if the poor Egyptians had had to use toilet papyrus._**

"We would never use that, the healers would go berserk." Ramses said with a shudder, you don't want to get on the bad side of a royal healer if you can help it.

"There were other installations." Ashkender said not wishing to continue that discussion, it was not exactly proper to discuss this in such a large company.

**_If so, no wonder they walked sideways._**

"Didn't you brother just…" Sadie held up her hand to stop her mother from commenting.

**_Finally I pulled out a wax figurine._**

"Please, I tried my best, but I'm neither a charm maker nor any good with shabti, that later one was more Amos's department." Julius tried to defend himself as he saw what stood further in the book.

"Seems then, that you got dad's skill with the shabti." Carter whispered to his sister, that their uncle was good at making them was evident, one only needed to look at Philip.

"Julius, we all know that, so read." Ruby ordered her husband who complied, although he still looked somewhat annoyed.

_"_**_Ew,_****_" I said._**

**_He was a tiny man, crudely fashioned, as if the maker had been in a hurry._**

"I'm starting to guess which one that is and Julius had only shown his nonexistent skill for shabti making, he spent four hours on that one." Amos said in amusement, there were only a few times he was allowed to do this regards his brother.

Julius meanwhile ignored him and continued reading with a slightly louder tone to tune Amos out.

**_His arms were crossed over his chest, his mouth was open, and his legs were cut off at the knees. A lock of human hair was wrapped round his waist._**

"Four hours?" Isis asked in bewilderment as she looked at the host of her husband who had switched with Osiris to escape from embarrassment, unfortunately his younger self had only the book as help.

**_Muffin jumped on the table and sniffed the little man. She seemed to think him quite interesting._**

_"_**_There's nothing here," Carter said._**

_"_**_What do you want?" I asked. "We've got wax, some toilet papyrus, an ugly statue—"_**

Sadie groaned and used Walt as a shield.

_"_**_Something to explain what happened to Dad. How do we get him back? Who was that fiery man_**

"Didn't Amos tell you one of my common names?" Set asked Carter who shrugged.

"I kind of found it to respectful and at that time we didn't exactly get along with you." Carter explained, no need to admit that he forgot.

**_he summoned?"_**

**_I held up the wax man. "You heard him, warty little troll. Tell us what you know."_**

**_I was just messing about. But the wax man became soft and warm like flesh. He said, "I answer the call."_**

**_I screamed and dropped him on his tiny head. Well, can you blame me?_**

No one answered seeing how a few people remembered their first encounters with a functioning shabti.

_"_**_Ow_****_!" he said._**

**_Muffin came over to have a sniff, and the little man started cursing in another language, possibly in Ancient Egyptian. When that didn't work, he screeched in English: "Go away! I'm not a mouse!"_**

**_I scooped up Muffin and put her on the floor._**

**_Carter's face had gone as soft and waxy as the little man's._**

"I was a bit in shock." he admitted.

_"_**_What _****_are_****_ you?" he asked._**

_"_**_I'm a _****_shabti_****_, of course!" The figurine rubbed his dented head. He still looked quite lumpish, only now he was a living lump. "Master calls me Doughboy,_**

"And you got dad's naming ability." Sadie whispered to Carter.

**_though I find the name insulting. You may call me Supreme-Force-Who-Crushes-His-Enemies!"_**

"And people gave me strange looks when I complain about my secret name and tell them my alternate ideas?" Set whispered to Amos who looked still amused at his brother's embarrassment.

_"_**_All right, Doughboy," I said._**

**_He scowled at me, I think, though it was hard to tell with his mashed-up face._**

_"_**_You_****_ weren't supposed to trigger me! Only the master does that."_**

_"_**_The master, meaning Dad," I guessed. "_****_Er_****_, Julius Kane?"_**

_"_**_That's him," Doughboy grumbled. "Are we done yet? Have I fulfilled my service?"_**

**_Carter stared at me blankly, but I thought I was beginning to understand._**

"It was kind of that time when everything of the past night and that morning started to fully sink in." Carter explained, it had been frightening, but now he could not imagine it not being a magician.

_"_**_So, Doughboy," I told the lump. "You were triggered when I picked you up and gave you a direct order: _****_Tell us what you know_****_. Is that correct?"_**

**_Doughboy crossed his stubby arms. "You're just toying with me. _****_Of course_****_ that correct. Only the master is supposed to be able to be able to trigger me, by the way. I don't know how you did it, but he'll blast you to pieces when he finds out."_**

"I generally don't walk around blasting my children to pieces." Julius said before frowning. "Ruby, please remind me if we should remember all of this that I give Doughboy some swimming lessons." he told his wife before continuing.

**_Carter cleared his throat. "Doughboy, the master is our dad, and he's missing. He's been magically sent away somehow and we need your help—"_**

_"_**_Master is gone?" Doughboy smiled so widely, I thought he wax face would split open._**

"Maybe a cold swimming lesson, I heard that cold water can be sometimes motivating." Julius mused to himself before continuing.

_"_**_Free at last! See you, suckers!"_**

**_He lunged for the end of the table but forgot he had no feet. He landed on his face, then began crawling toward the edge, dragging himself with his hands. "Free! Free!"_**

**_He fell off the table and onto the floor with a thud, but that didn't seem to discourage him. "Free! Free!"_**

**_He made it another centimeter or two before I picked him up and threw him in Dad's magic box. Doughboy tried to get out, but the box was just tall enough that he couldn't reach the rim. I wondered if it had been designed that way._**

"They are, in case the magician is not exactly skilled in the way of shabti making, so that there are no incidents." Iskander said in a calm tone while people looked over at Julius who had now a read blush on his face as he hurried to read on.

"Poor dad, this is just not his chapter." Sadie told her brother who nodded his head in agreement.

_"_**_Trapped!" he wailed. "Trapped!"_**

_"_**_Oh, shut up," I told him. "_****_I'm_****_ the mistress now. And you'll answer my questions."_**

**_Carter raised his eyebrow._**

As did everyone else, while Sadie avoided their gazes.

_"_**_How come _****_you_****_ get to be in charge?"_**

_"_**_Because I was smart enough to activate him."_**

_"_**_You were just joking around!"_**

**_I ignored my brother, which is one of my many talents._**

"And I still can use it, well on some occasions." she said, when Carter was acting as the Pharaoh, then it was not the time to ignore him.

_"_**_Now, Doughboy, first off, what's a _****_shabti_****_?"_**

_"_**_Will you let me out of the box if I tell you?"_**

_"_**_You _****_have_****_ to tell me," I pointed out. "And no, I won't."_**

**_He sighed. "_****_Shabti_****_ means _****_answerer_****_, as even the stupidest slave could tell you."_**

**_Carter snapped his fingers. "I remember now! The Egyptians made models out a wax or clay—servants to do every kind of job they could imagine in the afterlife. They were supposed to come to life when their master called, so the deceased person could, like, kick back and relax and let the _****_shabti_****_ do all his work for eternity."_**

"That is only one of their duties." Anubis said with a small frown on his face, sometimes could shabti be really annoying, mostly those serving a deceased master.

_"_**_First," Doughboy snipped, "that is typical of humans! Lazing around while we do all the work._**

Yes, he had heard that sentence enough times.

**_Second, afterlife work is only _****_one_****_ function of _****_shabti_****_. We are also used by magicians would be total incompetents without us._**

Most of the present magicians scowled at this, but didn't interrupt.

**_Third, if you know so much, why are you asking me?"_**

_**"**_**_Why did Dad cut off your legs," I wondered, "and leave you with a mouth?"_**

"Did you ever try charade with a shabti?" Julius asked.

"Darling, that is only because you are horrible with that game." Ruby told her husband while those ho knew what that was laughed.

_"_**_I—" Doughboy clapped his little hands over his mouth. "Oh, very funny. Threaten the wax statue. Big bully! He cut my legs off so I wouldn't run away or come to life in perfect form and try to kill him, naturally. Magicians are very mean. They maim statue to control them. They are afraid of us!"_**

"If a magician has a talent for making them then will they not seek their death." Ashkender said before Julius hurried on with reading, Amos looked in his option to much like someone who would like to make a comment, not to mention Desjardins, who looked as if this would be one of the best days in his life.

_"_**_Would you come to life and try to kill him, had he made you perfectly?"_**

"Which he couldn't to save his life." Amos whispered to Set.

_"_**_Probably," Doughboy admitted. "Are we done?"_**

_"_**_Not by half," I said. "What happened to our dad?"_**

**_Doughboy shrugged. "How should I know? But I see his wand and staff aren't in the box."_**

_"_**_No," Carter said. "The staff—the thing that turned into a snake—it got incinerated. And the wand... is that the boomerang thing?"_**

_"_**_The _****_boomerang thing_****_?"_**

"I still can't believe that you compare the wand to a boomerang." Desjardins said while the siblings tried not to grin when it turns out that their wands have also that function to them.

**_Doughboy said. "Gods of Eternal Egypt, you're dense. Of course that's his wand."_**

_"_**_It got shattered," I said._**

_"_**_Tell me how," Doughboy demanded._**

**_Carter told him the story. I wasn't sure that was the best idea, but I supposed a ten-centimeter-tall statue couldn't do us _****_that_****_ much harm._**

"Cold or hot water, I can't decide." Julius mumbled as he read a bit ahead.

_"_**_This is wonderful!" Doughboy cried._**

_"_**_Why?" I asked. "Is Dad still alive?"_**

_"_**_No!" Doughboy said. "He's almost certainly dead. The five gods of the Demon Days released? Wonderful! _**

"At least someone was happy about us." Isis muttered as she remembered how Sadie reacted to her.

"It is also kind of depressing that only a shabti would be happy, and that because he doesn't like his master." Nephthys told her sister while shaking her head.

**_And anyone who duels with the Red Lord—"_**

"And even the shabti knows how to address me, but not those two." Set mumbled while crossing her arms again in front of her chest.

_"_**_Wait," I said. "I order you to tell me what happened."_**

_"_**_Ha!" Doughboy said. "I only have to tell you what I _****_know_****_. Making educated guesses is a completely different task. I declare my service fulfilled!"_**

"You need to be specific when ordering a shabti." Julius said.

"So, like by demons." Sadie said when she noticed how the past visitors stared at her wide-eyed.

"Demons?" they asked in panic.

"You will find out later." Carter said hurriedly.

**_With that, he turned back to lifeless wax._**

_"_**_Wait!" I picked him up again and shook him. "Tell me your educated guesses!"_**

**_Nothing happened._**

_"_**_Maybe he's got a timer," Carter said. "Like only once a day._**

"Yes."

**_Or maybe you broke him."_**

_"_**_Carter, make a _****_helpful_****_ suggestion! What do we do now?"_**

**_He looked at the four ceramic statues on their pedestals. "Maybe—"_**

_"_**_Other _****_shabti_****_?"_**

_"_**_Worth a shot."_**

Both Amoses realaxed at this, if they use the shabti then there is a chance that they won't trigger any of the curses on some scrolls.

**_If the statues were _****_answerers_****_, they weren't very good at it. We tried holding them while giving them orders, though they were quite heavy. We tried pointing at them and shouting. We tried asking nicely. They gave us no answers at all._**

"Neither of you could have thrown in a helpful comment, now couldn't you?" Sadie asked while looking at both Isis and Horus.

"You didn't ask." Horus replied and Sadie had the urge to take off one of he boots and throw it at the God's face.

**_I grew so frustrated I wanted to _****_ha-di_****_ them into a million pieces, but I was still so hungry and tired, I had a feeling that spell would not be good for my health._**

"No it wouldn't and only because you get frustrated by something should you not go around using ha-di on them." Ruby told her daughter who bowed her head in understanding, she already got that talk from Bast, that ha-di was not for anger management.

**_Finally we decided to check the cubbyholes round the walls._**

And both Amoses were back to being all rigid so Set tried to calm down the one sitting beside her, it was kind of rare that it was her doing this and not the other way around.

The plastic cylinders were the kind you might find at a drive-through bank—the kind that shoot up and down the pneumatic tubes. Inside each case was a papyrus scroll. Some looked new. Some looked a thousands of years old. Each canister was labeled in hieroglyphs and (fortunately) in English.

"**_The Book of the Heavenly Cow_****,"**

"Hathor." the siblings said while remembering their meeting with her.

**_Carter read on one. "What kind of name is that?_**

"She would be offended." Osiris stated while trying not to look at a squirming Horus, he found out the hard way not to provocate her.

**_What've you got, _****_The Heavenly Badger_****_?"_**

_"_**_No," I said. "_****_The Book of Slaying Apophis_****_."_**

At this everyone from the present face-palmed, some even groaned, thought Set and Anubis let out more a sound similar to a growl.

"I can't believe that we forgot about that one." Carter said, he could kick himself for forgetting.

"I don't know if I should laugh or hit my head against the wall." Amos groaned, how could he have forgotten that he had that scroll in his library.

"I really don't like their reactions." Julius whispered worriedly to both Ruby and Amos.

"Julius, please continue." Osiris suddenly spoke up while inside of him, his host was busy giving voice to his frustration in rather colourful words.

**_Muffin meowed in the corner. When I looked over, her tail was puffed up._**

_"_**_What's wrong with her?" I asked._**

"Now I know and perfectly share her sentiments." Sadie said, she hated that snake for everything it had done.

_"_**_Apophis was a giant snake monster," Carter muttered. "He was bad news."_**

"Understatement." Set hissed, even that name made her blood boil.

**_Muffin turned and raced up the stairs, back into the Great Room. Cats. No accounting for them._**

"Which is kind of not true as I found out." Sadie said, no matter how the situation looked, Bast tried to be there for them.

**_Carter opened another scroll. "Sadie, look at this."_**

**_He'd found a papyrus that was quite long, and most of the text on it seemed to be lines of hieroglyphs._**

"I think that I know which scroll you have there." younger Amos said, he only had one such papyrus and that was about the royal lines.

_"_**_Can you read any of this?" Carter asked._**

**_I frowned at the writing, and the odd thing was, I _****_couldn't_****_ read it—except for one line at the top. "Only that bit where the title should be. It says... _****_Blood of the Great House_****_. What does that mean?"_**

_"_**_Great house," Carter mused. "What do the words sound like in Egyptian?"_**

_"_**_Per-roh. Oh, it's _****_pharaoh_****_, isn't it? But I thought a pharaoh was a king?"_**

"Carter explains it to me." Sadie said before anyone could start doing it.

_"_**_It is," Carter said. "The word literally means 'great house,' like the king's mansion. Sort of like referring to the president as 'the White House.' So here it probably means more like _****_Blood of the Pharaohs_****_, all of them, the whole lineage of all the dynasties, not just one guy."_**

"Very good." Zia beamed at Carter, she knew that her boyfriend was more than intelligent.

_"_**_So why do I care about the pharaohs' blood, and why can't I read any of the rest?"_**

"Sadie…"

"Remember, we were not told everything fully and this was years ago." Sadie said, wondering how often she will have to remind them about this fact, also rehearing all of this kind of made her feel stupid. Great, Drew will have a field day when they start reading these books.

**_Carter stared at the lines. Suddenly his eyes widened. "They're names. Look, they're all written inside cartouches."_**

_"_**_Excuse me?" I asked, because _****_cartouche_****_ sounded like a rather rude word, and I pride myself on knowing those._**

"And you know this because...?" Ruby narrowed her eyes at her daughter who gave the younger version of her father a desperate look that he should continue reading, luckily he got the message.

_"_**_The circles," Carter explained. "They symbolize magic ropes. They're supposed to protect the holder of the name from evil magic." He eyed me. "And possibly also from other magicians reading their names."_**

Everyone nodded their heads approvingly at this which made Carter blush in embarrassment.

_"_**_Oh, you're mental," I said. But I looked at the lines, and saw what he meant. All the other words were protected by cartouches, and I couldn't make sense of them._**

_"_**_Sadie," Carter said, his voice urgent. He pointed to a cartouche at the very end of the list—the last entry in what looked to be a catalogue of thousands._**

Julius smiled, now his children will find out about their inheritance.

**_Inside the circle were two simple symbols, a basket and a wave._**

_"_**_KN," Carter announced. "I know this one. It's our name, KANE."_**

Both Narmer and Ramses sat up straighter at this, if that list was about the royal families and their descendants…

_"_**_Missing a few letters, isn't it?"_**

**_Carter shook his head. "Egyptians usually didn't write vowels. Only consonants. You have to figure out the vowel sounds from context."_**

_"_**_They really _****_were_****_ nutters. So that could be KON or IKON or KNEE or AKNE."_**

_"_**_It could be," Carter agreed. "But it's our name, Kane. I asked Dad to write it for me in hieroglyphs once, and that's how he did it. But why are we in this list? And what is 'blood of the pharaohs'?"_**

"You are…" Ramses started while the magicians looked at him.

"Descendants of the royal families of Egypt, but you will have to wait a short while to find out as to whom we belong." Carter said to his ancestor when he noted the knowing look in Ashkender's and the queen-pharaoh's eyes before the later turned her gaze with contemplation towards Felix.

"This is certainly interesting." Narmer said in a thoughtful tone, but at least will the royal families not die out.

**_That icy tingle started on the back of my neck. I remembered what Amos had said, about both sides of our family being very ancient. Carter's eyes met mine, and judging from his expression, he was having the same thought._**

_"_**_There's no way," I protested._**

_"_**_Must be some kind of joke," he agreed. "Nobody keeps family records that far back."_**

"Except those who bear the blood of the ancient rulers." Thoth said with a knowing smile, it had been back then his suggestion to help keeping track on the numerous members of each dynasty.

**_I swallowed, my throat suddenly very dry. So many odd things had happened to us in the last day, but it was only when I saw our name in that book that I finally began to believe all this mad Egyptian stuff was real. Gods, magicians, monsters... and our family was tied into it._**

"Even deeper then we had first guessed it." Carter said with a smirk, and over the years they got even deeper into it.

**_Ever since breakfast, when it occurred to me that Dad had been trying to bring Mum back from the dead, a horrible emotion had been trying to take hold of me._**

Realizing what was about to come wrapped Walt his arms around his girlfriend who gave him a thankful smile.

"Could please no one comment for a while?" Walt asked while holding Sadie close as the others nodded, Carter having also remembered what is about to come.

**_And it wasn't dread. Yes, the whole idea was creepy, _****_much_****_ creepier than the shrine my grandparents kept in the hall cupboard to my dead mother. And yes, I told you I try not to live in the past and nothing could change the fact that my mum was gone. But I'm a liar._**

Julius had a hard time reading the next lines, but he understood why they were asked not to interrupt.

**_The truth was, I'd had one dream ever since I was six: to see my mum again._**

Ruby felt tears valling up in her eyes while others bowed their heads, they also understood now why they were asked not to comment, re-hearing this must be already hard enough on Sadie and she didn't need any comments to make it much worse.

**_To actually get to know her, talk to her, go shopping, do _****_anything_****_. Just be with her once so I could have a better memory to hold on to. The feeling I was trying to shake was _****_hope_****_. I knew I was setting myself up for colossal hurt. But if it really _****_were_****_ possible to bring her back, then I would've blown up any number of Rosetta Stones to make it happen._**

There was a deep silence as Ruby stood up and rushed over to her daughter and hugged her, both crying silent tears.

"We should continue now." Sadie spoke up after ten minutes, they still could make a few chapter before they need to go to bed.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked her daughter who nodded her head, face still tear-stained, but she had a small smile on her lips.

"Yes, I am." she said as Ruby let reluctantly go of her and made her way back to her husband.

_"_**_Let's keep looking," I said._**

**_After a few more minutes, I found a picture of some of animal-headed gods, five in a row, with a starry woman figure arching over them protectively_**

Set snorted at this softly, their mother had never been protective when it come to her third-born child, she made that one clear when she had handed him over to their father. Feeling Set's bitter feelings Amos pulled her closer again, he will need to do that pretty often during this book.

**_like an umbrella. Dad had released five gods. _****_Hmm_****_._**

"It seems you have found your answer, really good." Ruby told her daughter who smiled at her.

_"_**_Carter," I called. "What's this, then?"_**

**_He came to have a look and his eyes lit up._**

_"_**_That's it!" he announced. "These five... and up here, their mother, Nut."_**

**_I laughed. "A goddess named Nut? Is her last name Case?"_**

"Sorry, sorry." Sadie said hurriedly when four of the five Gods turned to look at her mystified.

_"_**_Very funny," Carter said. "She was the goddess of the sky."_**

**_He pointed to the painted ceiling—the lady with the blue star-spangled skin, same as in the scroll._**

_"_**_So what about her?" I asked._**

**_Carter knit his eyebrows. "Something about the Demon Days. It had to do with the birth of these five gods, but it's been a long time since Dad told me the story. This whole scroll is written in hieratic, I think. That's like hieroglyph cursive. Can you read it?"_**

"At that time no, but now I'm pretty good at both reading and writing them." Sadie said, well as the Scribe of Brooklyn House was it king of necessary to know how to do that.

**_I shook my head. Apparently, my particular brand of insanity only applied to regular hieroglyphs._**

_"_**_I wish I could find the story in English," Carter said._**

**_Just then there was a cracking noise behind us. The empty-handed clay statue hopped off his pedestal and marched towards us. Carter and I scrambled to get out of his way, but he walked straight past us, grabbed a cylinder from its cubbyhole and brought it to Carter._**

_"_**_It's a retrieval _****_shabti_****_," I said. "A clay librarian!"_**

**_Carter swallowed nervously_**

"In the normal world you don't have statues which get you what you are looking for." Carter explained while Sadie looked over to Set.

"By the way Set, do those on the other side also have moving statues?" she asked the God.

"Most statues in Manhattan at the given time and some other places in America, as well all there where the Greco-Roman Gods resided are actually automatons, but some need a special code to be awakened, they will be mentioned in the Titan's Curse, Last Olympian and I think in both Son of Neptune and he Mark of Athena." Set explained.

"Wait, I remember some news about statues having been found in Manhattan in some strange poses." Jaz said suddenly as she remembered seeing the news with her dad.

"They were used as reinforcements to keep the city safe, but there was no time to tell them that after they are done that they should return to their original places." Set replied with a shrug.

**_and took the cylinder. "_****_Um_****_... thanks."_**

**_The statue marched back to his pedestal, jumped on, and hardened again into regular clay._**

_"_**_I wonder..." I faced the _****_shabti_****_. "Sandwich and chips, please!"_**

**_Sadly, none of the statues jumped down to serve me. Perhaps food wasn't allowed in the library._**

"What library would allow that? It could damage the books." Thoth said in a horrified tone while Sadie shrugged.

**_Carter uncapped the cylinder and unrolled the papyrus. He sighed in relief. "This version is in English."_**

**_As he scanned the text, his frown got deeper._**

_"_**_You don't look happy," I noticed._**

_"_**_Because I remember the story now. The five gods... if Dad really released them, it isn't good news."_**

"What is that supposed to mean!" yelled the five siblings offended, they were not that bad.

"Sorry, but I did not know any of you pretty well at that time, and you can't deny that you guys are completely innocent." Carter told the siblings at which both Osiris and Nephthys looked down in understanding what he meant.

"I understand if you mean Set, but we others are fine." Horus said while Amos started calming the aforementioned God.

"Horus, Hall of Ages." Carter told the God in a flat tone at which the other bowed his head in shame.

"Isis, do you need the list?" Sadie asked the Goddess who shook her head hurriedly.

"We thought so." the siblings said together while giving the two Gods hard looks, the others who did not know what they meant were either confused, awed or worried.

"Julius, please continue." older Amos told his brother when he felt Set relax again.

_"_**_Hang on," I said. "Start from the beginning."_**

**_Carter took a shaky breath. "Okay. So the sky goddess, Nut, was married to the earth god, Geb."_**

_"_**_That would be this chap on the floor?" I tapped my foot on the big green man with the river and hills and forests all over his body._**

_"_**_Right," Carter said. "Anyway, Geb and Nut wanted to have kids, but the king of the gods, Ra—he was the sun god—heard this bad prophecy that a child of Nut—"_**

_"_**_Child of Nut," I snickered. _**

Sadie held up her hands when the five Gods looked at her again with raised eyebrows.

**_"Sorry, go on."_**

_"—_**_a child of Geb and Nut would one day replace Ra as king. _**

Horus was trying not to grin in satisfaction as did Isis, while Osiris winced as Set frowned, she hated the reminder.

**_So when Ra learned that Nut was pregnant, Ra freaked out._**

"He was furious and disappointed, that is not the same as freaking out." Set told Carter who nodded his head in understanding.

**_He forbade Nut to give birth to her children on any day or night of the year."_**

**_I crossed my arms. "So what, she had to stay pregnant forever? That's awfully mean."_**

"It was more kindness." older Amos spoke up which made everyone turn into his direction in shock.

"How is staying pregnant for all eternity kind?" asked a surprised Amir when Ashkender gasped in realization.

"I think I understand, Ra had allowed her to stay pregnant, he could have banished her to the end of the spheres from where he had called forth the other ancient Gods or banished her into the deepest part of the Duat, punishing her with dying in horrible pain over and over again, but the only thing Lord Ra did was forbidding her to give birth." he explained as more people gasped, now understanding which made the four siblings squirm in their thrones while Set rested her head on Amos's shoulder for comfort.

"This had been also a test for her, a second chance to regain the trust she had broken." Amos continued while by the thrones Nephthys flinched, it seemed she had quiet much in common with her mother, she had broken trust twice and was now punished to be parted from the one she loved.

**_Carter shook his head. "Nut figured out a way. She set up a game of dice with the moon god, Khons._**

Carter and Sadie flinched as they remembered their own game against the God.

**_Every time Khons lost, he had to give Nut some of his moonlight. He lost so many times, Nut won enough moonlight to create five _****_new_****_ days and tag them on the end of the year."_**

_"_**_Oh, please," I said. "First, how can you gamble moonlight? And if you did, how could you make extra days out of it?"_**

"Night and day are strongly linked with each other as are moon and sun. Our allies have made this connection easier to explain seeing how it had been the Goddess of the Night, Nyx who had given birth to Hemera the Goddess of Daylight, also the twins Apollo and Artemis are respectively the God of Sun and Goddess of Moon, one is never without the other meaning if there is one, the other will follow." Set explained to the others who nodded their heads, this really made it more understandable how one could create five days out of moonlight.

_"_**_It's a story!" Carter protested. "Anyway, the Egyptian calendar had three hundred and sixty days in the year, just like the three hundred and sixty degrees in a circle. Nut created five days and added them to the end of the year—days that were not part of the regular year."_**

_"_**_The Demon Days," I guessed. "So the myth explains why a year has three hundred and sixty-five days. And I suppose she had her children—"_**

_"_**_During those five days," Carter agreed. "One kid per day."_**

_"_**_Again, how do you have five children in a row, each on a different day?"_**

"Godly pregnancies and mortal pregnancies are highly different from each other, some Gods were not born out of a mother's womb as by the first Gods, some were born through parthenogenesis, meaning the pregnancy occurs without a partner, there are even some who were born from a male deity. Beside that divine pregnancies can be either really short, few days even minutes or extremely long going on for centuries, unlike the normal nine months term of humans or even the slightly longer terms by some animals." Tawaret explained to the gathered magicians.

"This is exactly the ground why I will be over this pregnancy in three months." Set said while placing her hand on her stomach. "Though I plan not to be like the lovely mother who had me." Set said bitterly and Amos was not sure if she was talking to her siblings or the baby.

"Set, if you remember you have clawed your way out of her side." Isis told her brother sternly who glared at her venomously, but this was the first time that Isis felt scared by that look.

"And tell me, do people decide how they get born? I think Gods are the perfect example that no one decides that, but this seemed to not matter to our lovely parents as they cast me away and left me alone before Ra had found me and decided to give me a chance unlike those responsible for my existence." Set growled and it felt as if the air had become colder, making some look at Felix who shook his head that it was not him. "Spare me with your talk Isis, as said I will not do the same mistake towards my own child." Set finished, she was fighting back tears, damn hormones they made it to hard to hold up the mask that she doesn't care, that it didn't hurt her.

The others only stared wide-eyed at the God while Amos did his best to console her through their link, some had not know the fact about the abandonment while Osiris cringed at the memories of his father bringing Set away. Of course had he asked where they are going, but his father only told him to play with his younger siblings and when he returned later was his brother not with him anymore and Osiris had not asked further, Nephthys herself was also feeling terrible while trying to not look at her son who was staring at his father, his expression unreadable. The silence lasted for some time before Ruby found her voice and asked the question which had come to all of them who had heard Set say that she won't repeat her mother's mistake.

"What do you mean, that you won't do the same as your mother?" she asked, while trying to get her feelings in grip no matter the hormones, she had never expected to feel sympathy or sadness for a God who represented evil and chaos, but she did.

"I think I should take now over this one." Tawaret said sighing while Amos went to renew the protecting seal around the baby, just to be sure, while the others looked at the Hippo Goddess. "Generally all demigods are born the same way their godly parent had been born like in the case of Athena's children. She had been born from the head of her father Zeus, breaking out as a full-grown woman in battle armour, her own children are born out of her thoughts and jump from their mother's head, but unlike her they are small babies at that time." Tawaret finished at which a good deal of people paled and whipped their heads in Set's direction.

"You mean that…" Sadie began in a shaking tone.

"That in three months will I find out how sharp the claws of this child are, we knew this since the beginning." Set said in a much calmer tone now while the others stared at her uncomfortably, thought younger Amos was staring at this older counterpart as he tried to progress how he could deal with this emotional pressure.

"Julius, continue with the reading, it will be better so." Amos said in the end, he really didn't want for this conversation to go on any further, he also wanted to ignore the fact about how the birth will go till the time for it has come.

Two minutes later Julius continued reading, but most were only halfway paying attention to what was read.

_"_**_They're gods," Carter said. "They can do stuff like that."_**

_"_**_Makes as much sense as the name Nut. But please, go on."_**

_"_**_So when Ra found out, he was furious, but it was too late. The children were already born. Their names were Osiris—"_**

_"_**_The one Dad was after."_**

_"_**_Then Horus, Set, Isis, and, um..." Carter consulted his scroll. "Nephthys. I always forget that one."_**

Nephthys tried to feel annoyed, but she could not really manage to do so, she felt too much hollowness and guilt for that, they made it impossible for another emotion to get through.

_"_**_And the fiery man_**

"Both your uncle and a shabti have given you a name to use and you are still stuck on this one." Set said in an annoyed tone.

"Sorry." the siblings replied, they were still contemplating what they have heard and the fact about their uncle knowing that when the baby comes will he need to witness how it claws itself a way out of Set, the thought made them shudder and feel even more respect for the man.

**_in the museum said, _****_you have released all five_****_."_**

_"_**_Exactly. What if they were imprisoned together and Dad didn't realize it? They were born together, so maybe they had to be summoned back into the world together. _**

The five siblings nodded their heads slowly, this made sense.

**_The thing is, one of these guys, Set, was a really bad dude._**

Set looked over at Carter who looked at her apologetically.

**_Like, the villain of Egyptian mythology._**

"We now know who that was instead of you." Carter said hurriedly while Ashkender glared at his brother that he should not dare say even a word.

**_The god of evil and chaos and desert storms."_**

"You told the properties backwards Carter." Amos said to his nephew, but he was still concentrating on the God in his arms, he knew that things will go soon much worse for Set's uncontrolled emotions, but at least were her powers not acting up or that would be bad.

**_I shivered. "Did he perhaps have something to do with fire?"_**

**_Carter pointed to one of the figures in the picture. The god had an animal head, but I couldn't make out which sort of animal: Dog? Anteater? _**

Here Julius slightly choked on his breath before looking up at his future-daughter, she really had a fantasy.

"Julius?" Ruby asked concerned.

"Sorry, it was only the last suggestion here." Julius said while Sadie suddenly turned to Set and put her hands together as if praying.

"I'm terribly sorry for what stands there, I have too much imagination for my own good." she told the God who raised her eyebrow at her before exchanging looks with Amos.

"Fine, I will not be offended." she told her.

**_Evil bunny rabbit?_**

"Sadie?" older Amos asked his niece, really moose and rabbit, Set and the Shaa didn't even look like those two.

"Uh…I thought we agreed that I'm sorry." Sadie told her uncle who raised and eyebrow.

"You told that to Set." he answered back.

**_Whichever it was, his hair and his clothes were bright red._**

"Crimson." both Set and Amos corrected.

"Huh?"

"Back in the ancient times was it not easy to make all shades of a colour, but even those Gods whose colour was similar had different shades." Amos explained.

"Aha." come the reply who didn't know that.

_"_**_The Red Lord," I said._**

"And they finally get it." Set mumbled to herself.

_"_**_Sadie, there's more," Carter said. "Those five days—the Demon Days—were bad luck in Ancient Egypt._**

Those from the antique nodded, thought Narmer was looking apologetically at Horus while his brother at Set.

**_You had to be careful, wear good luck charms, and not do anything important or dangerous on those days._**

Carter and Sadie were busy not blushing when everyone from their time looked at them while those from the past, mostly their family, felt like groaning.

**_And in the British Museum, Dad told Set: _****_They'll stop you before the Demon Days are over_****_."_**

_"_**_Surely you don't think he meant _****_us_****_," _**

Ruby threw a heated glare at her husband while placing her hands protectively around her belly.

**_I said. "_****_We're_****_ supposed to stop this Set character?"_**

"I need to admit that they did pretty well." Set mumbled so that only Amos could hear her.

**_Carter nodded. "And if the last five days of _****_our_****_ calendar year still count as the Egyptian Demon Days—they'd start on December 27, the day after tomorrow."_**

**_The _****_shabti_****_ seemed to be staring at me expectantly, but I had not the slightest idea what to do. Demon Days and evil bunny gods—_**

Set resisted he urge to get annoyed and it seems that the earlier discussion had enough impact on the others that they didn't laugh at the comment.

**_if I heard _****_one_****_ more impossible thing, my head would explode._**

**_And the worst of it? The little insistent voice in the back of my head saying: _****_It's not impossible. To save Dad, we must defeat Set._**

Sadie looked up at Isis who nodded her head that it had been her.

**_As if that had been on my to-do list for Christmas hols. See Dad—check. Develop strange powers—check. Defeat an evil god of chaos—check. The whole idea was mad!_**

"Though not in a world where myths are reality." Sadie said while the others nodded.

**_Suddenly there was a loud crash, as if someone had broken in the Great Room. Khufu began barking in alarm._**

**_Carter and I locked eyes. Then we ran for the stairs._**

"This was the end of the chapter, Desjardins would you?" Julius asked.

"Give me the book." the French magician said with a sigh before raising an eyebrow at the title.

**_Muffin Plays with Knives_**

_To be continued…_


	8. Nice family get-together

A/N: so here is a new chapter and remember, please review the story

* * *

VIII. Nice family get-together

The others also stared at the book, the only thing most could imagine that someone let knives out and that the cat started hitting them with her paws, which was dangerous because it could get hurt and after the delightful talk about how a certain baby will be born didn't anyone wish to see cuts or read about them.

"I hope that Muffin didn't get hurt." Ruby said voicing her thoughts as she looked over at the children to ask who that irresponsible person was to let sharp objects out.

"You will see what the title means, but don't worry she was fine, the problems come mostly when we took a trip to Central Park." Sadie told her mother.

"Weren't you told to not go there, because seeing my words when you arrived were we at that time not on friendly basis with the other Gods there." younger Amos said while looking at the siblings.

"You will see." Carter told his uncle before looking over at Desjardins who started reading, he wanted to be done with this chapter.

**_Our baboon was going completely sky goddess—which is to say, _****_nuts_****_._**

"Mom/grandmother would be highly offended by this sentence." said the Gods, well beside Set, she only shook her head at the girl comparison.

"Sorry, I didn't exactly know her at that time." Sadie said as everyone looked at her with wide eyes.

"Are you implying that you know her now?" younger Julius asked.

"Book." was the only reply he got.

**_He swung from column to column, bouncing along the balconies, overturning pots and statues. Then he ran back to the terrace windows, stared outside for a moment, and proceeded to go berserk again._**

"He was trying to tell you that big trouble is ahead." older Amos translated before Thoth had a chance to open his mouth.

"Just wonderful to know." Ruby muttered while rubbing her stomach.

**_Muffin was also at the window. She crouched on all fours with her tail twitching as if she were stalking a bird._**

"We would have been happy about that." the siblings said together.

_"_**_Perhaps it's just a passing flamingo,"_**

"In Brooklyn?" asked a good deal of people from the past incredulously.

"Well, it could have escaped from a Zoo or something." Sadie said.

**_I suggested hopefully, but I'm not sure Carter could hear me over the screaming baboon._**

"I only heard the word flamingo and had no clue what you want with that bird now." Carter admitted with a shrug.

**_We ran to the glass doors. At first I didn't see any problem. Then water exploded from the pool, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. Two enormous creatures, most definitely not flamingos, were thrashing about with our crocodile, Philip of Macedonia._**

**_I couldn't make out what they were, only that they were fighting Philip two against one._**

A good deal of people flinched at this, mostly those who knew what those things were.

"He had dragged them into the pool, but it is not big enough to drown both." older Amos mused; Philip had done what he could to give the children an edge.

"He is really loyal to those who live in the mansion." Ruby said while looking at those from the present.

"He certainly is." Walt agreed, their Chief Lector was really skilled with shabti, there was no doubt to that.

**_They disappeared under the boiling water, and Khufu ran screaming through the Great Room again, bonking himself on the head with his empty Cheerios box, which I must say was not particularly helpful._**

"Now we kind of know that he was trying to tell us to stop staring out of the window and get ready." Carter admitted.

_"_**_Longnecks," Carter said incredulously. "Sadie, did you _****_see_****_ those things?"_**

"Those vile creatures are more than vicious." Narmer growled, he had a good deal of experience fighting them.

"You know, that sending them was kind of ironic considering part of their ancestry." Amos whispered to Set who turned to him.

"It had been intentional, it was not hard to figure out who your ancestor was after I had looked at your brother." Set told him at which Amos nodded in understanding, now looking back at things almost the whole happenings of these books were kind of ironic.

**_I couldn't find an answer. Then one of the creatures was thrown out of the pool. It slammed into the doors right in front of us, and I jumped back in alarm._**

"Yes Carter, I saw them, a bit too good for my liking, but I saw them." Sadie told her brother while Ruby was back to breaking her husband's arm.

**_On the other side of the glass was the most terrifying animal I'd ever seen._**

"I'm taking that back now, have seen worse." Sadie corrected her past self.

"Not reassuring." younger Amos said to Desjardins who nodded his head.

**_Its body was like a leopard's—lean and sinewy, with golden spotted fur—but its neck was completely wrong. It was green and scaly and at least as long s the rest of its body. It had a cat's head, but no normal cat's. when it turned its glowing red eyes toward us, it howled, showing a forked tongue and fangs dripping with green venom._**

"Accurate description." Narmer said before he threw a dark look at the Red Lord, but it was returned by her follower, he really could not understand how that man had turned to that God after his earlier statements in the last chapter.

**_I realized my legs were shaking and I was making a very undignified whimpering sound._**

"It was an understandable reaction in that situation." Walt whispered to his girlfriend who smiled at him, maybe if he continues to be so sweet she could make his punishment a bit more merciful.

**_The cat-serpent jumped back into the pool to joins its companion in beating up Philip, who spun and snapped but seemed unable to hurt his attackers._**

_"_**_We have to help Philip!" I cried. "He'll be killed!"_**

"What, I love animals and at that time had I not known that Philip would be fine." Sadie said in her defence, shabti were not easy to get rid of, mostly if their creator still lives. This seemed to also relax the queen who really adored crocodiles and this one was no exception.

**_I reached for the door handle, but Muffin growled at me._**

"I'm glad that she did that." Sadie said, Carter would not have managed to grab her and in her weakened and scarred state would she have met Anubis sooner than she would have liked and her brother still needed her.

**_Carter said, "Sadie, no! You heard Amos. We can't open the doors for any reason. The house is protected by magic. Philip will have to beat them on his own."_**

_"_**_But what if he can't? Philip!"_**

**_The old crocodile turned. For a second his pink reptilian eye focused on me as if he could sense my concern._**

The siblings turned to Amos who nodded his head that he did.

**_Then the cat-snakes bit at his underbelly and Philip rose up so that only the tip of his tail still touched the water. His body began to glow. A low hum filled the air, like an airplane engine starting up. When Philip came down, he slammed into the terrace with all his might._**

**_The entire house shook. Cracks appeared in the concrete terrace outside, and the swimming pool split right down the middle as the far end crumbled into empty space._**

Everyone flinched at hearing this.

"That must have really been a large impact if it caused something like that." Desjardins said before continuing.

_"_**_No!" I cried._**

**_But the edge of the terrace ripped free, plunging Philip and the monsters straight into the East River._**

**_My whole body began to trembled. "He sacrificed himself. He killed the monsters."_**

_"_**_Sadie..." Carter's voice was faint. "What if he didn't? What if they come back?"_**

"I hate being right." Carter mumbled under his breath while Zia leaned against him.

"One should be ready for a renewed attack if you don't see either your enemies' corpse or a monster designating." Horus said in a lecturing way.

"Meaning, the danger is not over." Ruby groaned, why needed it to be her children.

_"_**_Don't say that!"_**

_"_**_I—I recognized them, Sadie. Those creatures. Come on."_**

Carter suddenly tensed and carefully looked over to his side to meet Set's eyes who was frowning at him.

"You remembered what the longnecks were while you had no clue what my animal form was?" Set asked the young pharaoh who gave his uncle a pleading look to help him.

"Erm…you see Set…I…uh…"

"Set, I think you should not dwell on this, now he knows it." Amos told the God gently as he placed his arms around her smaller frame and pulled her back.

"Fine." she replied with a huff while Carter gave his uncle a thankful look.

"You are pretty good with keeping Set in check and to make him or in the current case her listen to you." Ruby whispered to her brother-in-law who resisted the urge to shake his head.

"It might only be because of the pregnancy." Amos said, saying this made him feel really awkward in a way seeing that the original gender of his child's mother was and is male no matter the current female form.

_"_**_Where?" I demanded, but he ran straight back to the library._**

**_Carter marched up the _****_shabti_****_ who'd helped us before. "Bring me the... _****_gah_****_, what's it called?"_**

_"_**_What?" I asked._**

_"_**_Something Dad showed. It's a big stone plate or something. Had a picture of the first pharaoh,_**

Narmer looked up at this in interest, so they will be ready with it.

**_the guy who untied Upper and Lower Egypt into one kingdom._**

"And now had one of his descendants united the House of Life with the Gods again." Zia whispered to her boyfriend who tried not to blush, he kind of forgot about this parallel he had with his ancestor who was now looking rather proud.

**_His name..." His eyes lit up. "Narmer! Bring me the Narmer Plate!"_**

At this Narmer blinked a few times before looking over at his brother questioningly.

"Did I order a plate or a palette, because I could swear that it was the later one." he said to his brother.

"I also remember a palette and not a plate." Ashkender said before turning to a blushing Carter.

"I kind of switched that up for a few seconds." he explained at which both men nodded their heads.

**_Nothing happened._**

_"_**_No," Carter decided. "Not a plate. It was... one of those things that holds paint. A palette. Bring me the Narmer Palette!"_**

"Carter." Amos was about to say, but said person held up his hand.

"Yes, I should have been more specific." he said sighing while the initiates looked amused; the others only shook their heads.

"Let me guess, he will get the original one." Ramses asked with a small grin while the others nodded in confirmation.

**_The empty-handed _****_shabti_****_ didn't move, but across the room, the statue with the little hook came to life. He jumped off his pedestal and disappeared in a cloud of dust. A heartbeat later, he reappeared on the table. At his feet was a wedge of flat gray stone, shaped like a shield and about as long as my forearm._**

_"_**_No!" Carter protested. "I meant a _****_picture_****_ of it!_**

"Too late, it would have needed that in his order beforehand." Thoth said in an amused tone, this was the first time he had heard about such an accident, at least was he not asking for an obelisk, now _that_ would have caused hilarious reactions.

**_Oh great, I think this is the __real__ artifact._**

"It was." the siblings said while some of the past face-palmed.

**_The _****_shabti_****_ must've stolen it from the Cairo Museum. We've got to return—"_**

"Wait a moment, does that mean that…great my grave will be invaded." Narmer mumbled in annoyance.

"Technically, that one was found in Nekhen, in one of Horus's temples." older Julius told the pharaoh who nodded at this, he was fine with that while said God felt pleased about the mention of the temple.

_"_**_Hang on," I said. "We might as well have a look."_**

**_The surface of the stone was craved with the picture of a man smashing another man in the face with what looked like a spoon._**

"A what?" Narmer asked in confusion while some people either stared spluttering or snorted as Sadie blushed.

_"_**_That's Narmer with the spoon," I guessed. "Angry because the other bloke stole his breakfast cereal?"_**

"I really have no clue what those are." Narmer said again in confusion.

"Let me help you." Set said snickering as she snapped her fingers and Narmer found himself suddenly holding a spoon and a strange bowls with milk and what looked like puffed up wheat with some darker spots on them. "That is a spoon and breakfast cereal." Set explained while a good number of people broke out laughing at the expression the pharaoh had on his face, not to forgetting how he looked with the spoon and cereal in his lap.

Desjardins had a hard time getting himself to read again while the others tried to get their laughter under control, not that it was going easy.

**_Carter shook his head. "He's conquering his enemies and uniting Egypt. See his hat? That's the crown of Lower Egypt, before the two countries untied."_**

_"_**_The bit that looks like a bowling pin?"_**

"Bowling pin?" Narmer realized too late that he should have stayed quiet because Set snapped her fingers again and a white thing made of wood with a coloured string which formed a collar around the slim neck.

This of course set the others even more of into their laughing fits and most to his displeasure was his brother also laughing with the others and he was sure that his face had gone red. It also took almost ten minutes for everyone to calm down and gasp for air.

"I'm rally starting to love Set's humour." Sadie whispered still giggling to those with her on the couch while Amos tried and failed to look cross with the God who was giving him a cheeky smile in return, her face still slightly flushed from laughing.

_"_**_You're impossible," Carter grumbled._**

_"_**_He looks like Dad, doesn't he?"_**

Narmer stopped glowering when hearing this, what did that mean? On the other had were both queen and prince nodding their heads, they had guessed right.

_"_**_Sadie, be serious!"_**

_"_**_I _****_am_****_ serious. Look at his profile."_**

"You mean that you are my descendants?" Narmer asked as he looked at the male and one female Kanes who all nodded back before he groaned. "That means that…"

"Yup, your beloved God had managed to get me even more into your family line." Set replied grinning while she leaned against Amos, she had once not managed to stop that man from destroying someone with a potential to be one of her followers, a second time would she not allow the loss.

"I certainly like the idea, even if the second part is still a bit strange to know." Ashkender said in an amused tone as he shared a grin with Amos as both tuned to Narmer who had his face buried into his hands and was muttering something under his breath. "Just ignore him, he does that often when frustrated, he will get around eventually." he told the others, his grin still in place.

"Poor guy, this kind of gave him a kick where it really hurts." Sadie whispered to those sitting closest to her.

**_Carter decided to ignore me. _**

"At that time had we no time for looking at ancestors and doing comparisons in the family." Carter explained himself while the others nodded in understanding one could do that when there are no demos attacking you.

**_He examined the stone like he was afraid to touch it. "I need to see the back but I don't want to turn it over. We might damage—"_**

**_I grabbed the stone and flipped it over._**

A few people groaned at this while Sadie blushed.

"Sadie, that is one of the most ancient and intact artefacts." her father admonished her.

_"_**_Sadie! You could've broken it!"_**

_"_**_That's what mend spells are for, yes?"_**

She blushed even harder by the gazes she got for that comment.

**_We examined the back of the stone, and I had to admit I was impressed by Carter's memory._**

**_Two cat-snake monsters stood in the center of the palette, their necks entwined. On either side, Egyptian men with ropes were trying to capture the creatures._**

_"_**_They're called serpopards," Carter said. "Serpent leopards."_**

Set glowered at the squirming Carter, but seeing how Amos had put his arms back around her and held her firmly against himself had she no choice to remain in place, not that she really minded his closeness and touch, damn hormones.

_"_**_Fascinating," I said. "But what _****_are_****_ sepopards?"_**

_"_**_No one knows exactly. Dad thought they were creatures of chaos—very bad news, and they've been around forever. This stone is one of the oldest artifacts from Egypt. Those pictures were carved five thousand years ago."_**

_"_**_So why are five-thousand-year-old monsters attacking our house?"_**

_"_**_Last night, in Phoenix, the fiery man ordered his servants to capture us. He said to send the longnecks first."_**

"Yup, this was the explanation for the first time monsters attack, that they were sent to get you." Set said while the Kanes from the past sent her a little glare, but it was hard to do it really intense, they still remembered last chapters talk.

"What do you mean by first time?" Carter asked, he didn't like the tone how Set said this.

"Ah, you know demigods attract monsters with their scent which either want to eat them or just kill them and the more powerful the demigod is, the sooner his scent gets strong enough to attract monsters. Meaning those who get to babysit will have the golden opportunity to meet a good number of Egyptian monsters like those on the other side the Greek monster list." Thoth explained for Set while the others paled.

"I'm starting to see why in the original plan the whole thing with Egyptian demigods being born was planned to happen a few years later after he discussions end." Walt said nervously as he looked over to the thrones where Anubis was looking again at his father with an unreadable expression and Walt felt that he would be intruding if he tried to see what the other was feeling by his news regards his half-bother or sister.

"Yes, by that time would also the plans for a separated camp been ready, the place where it should be decided and built." Amos said while now was everyone looking at a squirming Horus.

"I did not know that this would happen." he tried defending himself, but by the looks he got could he tell that he was doing a rather horrid job at it so he only waved for Desjardins to continue.

**_I had a metallic taste in my mouth, and I wished I hadn't chewed my last piece of gum._**

_"_**_Well... good thing they're at the bottom of the East River."_**

By the way those from the present looked at each other wanted those from the past to groan, well except Narmer, he was still to busy muttering.

**_Just then Khufu rushed into the library, screaming and slapping his head._**

_"_**_Suppose I shouldn't have said that," I muttered._**

**_Carter told the _****_shabti_****_ to return the Narmer Palette, and both statue and stone disappeared. Then we followed the baboon upstairs._**

**_The serpopards were back, their fur wet and slimy from the river, and they weren't happy. _**

"They are part cats, not many of those like being wet." Ruby stated in a worried tone.

**_They prowled the broken ledge of the terrace, their snake necks whipping round as they sniffed the doors, looking for a way in. They spit poison that steamed and bubbled on the glass. Their forked tongues darted in and out._**

_"_**_Agh, agh!_****_" Khufu picked up Muffin, who was sitting on the sofa, and offered me the cat._**

"Huh?" asked many in confusion while Iskander nodded his head, his suspicions seem to be correct and the title now had more meaning to it then a pet pawing on sharp objects.

_"_**_I really don't think that will help," I told him._**

"Agreed." Amir said while those from the present tried not to grin.

_"_**_AGH!" Khufu insisted._**

**_Neither _****_Muffin_****_ nor _****_cat_****_ ended in _****_–o_****_, so I guesses Khufu was not trying to offer me a snack, _**

Those from the present snickered while their visitors still looked either confused or worried, some even both.

**_but I didn't know what he was on about. I took the cat just to shut him up._**

_"_**_Mrow?_****_" Muffin looked up at me._**

_"_**_It'll be all right," I promised, trying not to sound scared out of my mind._**

"It didn't work the slightest bit." Carter told his sister who nodded, she had a hunch.

_"_**_The house is protected by magic."_**

_"_**_Sadie," Carter said. "They've found something."_**

Ruby was back to grip her husband's arm with one hand, the other was on her belly as she prayed that the children would be fine.

**_The serpopards had converged at the left-hand door and were intently sniffing the handle._**

_"_**_Isn't it locked?" I asked._**

**_Both monsters smashed their ugly faces against the glass. The door shuddered. Blue hieroglyphs glowed along the doorframe, but their light was faint._**

_"_**_I don't like this," Carter murmured._**

"Me neither," Ruby said worryingly while beside her Julius tried not to show that he was in pain.

"Either the constant attacks are weakening the magical seals or someone had manipulated with them." younger Amos said in a thoughtful tone.

"Amos, you are not helping my nerves." Ruby snapped at her brother-in-law who held his hands up defensively.

**_I prayed that the monsters would give up._**

"And of course not to me." Isis mumbled to herself while doing her best to not look at her older brother, she was not sure how to feel about him.

"Unfortunately are monsters persistent, they don't rest till either you kill them or they kill you." Carter said sighing.

"Carter, the same goes for you to." Ruby told her son, what was it with people trying to make her even more worried then she already was.

**_Or that perhaps Philip of Macedonia would climb back to the terrace (do crocodiles climb?)_**

"In a way yes, they can." Hatshepsut said in a thoughtful tone.

**_and renew the fight._**

**_Instead, the monsters smashed their heads against the glass again. This time a web of cracks appeared. The blue hieroglyphs flickered and died._**

_"_**_AGH!" Khufu screamed. He waved his hand vaguely at the cat._**

_"_**_Maybe if I try the _****_ha-di_****_ spell," I said._**

"Don't!" Ruby yelled, she was to drained a new ha-di could kill her.

**_Carter shook his head. "You almost fainted after you blew up those doors. I don't want you passing out, or worse."_**

Sadie gave her brother a thankful smile at this, she knew that in the past had she shown really little appreciation for the way he tried protecting here, but now she didn't mind showing it somewhat.

**_Carter once again surprised me. He tugged a strange sword from one of Amos's wall displays. The blade had an odd crescent-moon curve and looked horribly impractical._**

"I personally find it more than practical." Carter said with a grin, he loved his sword.

_"_**_You can't be serious," I said._**

_"_**_Unless—unless you've got a better idea," he stammered, his face beading with perspiration. "It's me, you, and the baboon against _****_those_****_ things."_**

**_I'm sure Carter was trying to be brave in his own extremely unbrave way, but he was shaking worse than I was. If anyone was going to pass out, I feared it would be him, and I didn't fancy him doing that while holding a sharp object._**

"I agree with Sadie on not fainting while holding a sword in your hand." Ruby said nervously as she tried not to imagine the scene.

**_Then the serpopards struck a third time, and the door shattered. We back up to the foot of Thoth's statue as the creatures stalked into the Great Room. Khufu threw his basketball, which bounced harmlessly off the first monster's head. Then he launched himself at the serpopard._**

Everyone winced at this, but seeing no sadness in the eyes from those of the present they all guessed that the baboon would survive the attack, this was at least a small comfort.

_"_**_Khufu, don't!" Carter yelled._**

**_But the baboon sank his fangs into the monster's neck. The serpopard lashed around, trying to bite him. Khufu leaped off, but the monster was quick. It used its head like a bat and smacked poor Khufu in midair, sending him straight through the shattered door, over the broken terrace, and into the void._**

**_I wanted to sob, but there wasn't time. The serpopards came toward us. We couldn't outrun them. Carter raised his sword. I pointes my hand at the first monster and tried to speak the _****_ha-di_****_ spell, but my voice stuck in my throat._**

_"_**_Mrow!_****_" Muffin said, more insistently. Why was the cat still nested in my arm and not running away in terror?_**

The others were also looking strangely at the book while those from the present smiled.

"She would never leave her kittens in danger." Sadie said proudly, confusing the others even more.

"Desjardins." younger Julius said, the other only nodded he also wanted to know what was up with that strange cat so he didn't care that it had been Julius telling him to read.

**_Then I remembered something Amos had said: _****_Muffin will protect you_****_. Was that what Khufu had been trying to remind me? It seemed impossible, but I stammered, "M-muffin, I order you to protect us."_**

**_I tossed her on the floor. Just for a moment, the silver pendant on her collar seemed to gleam. Then the cat arched her back leisurely, sat down, and began licking a front paw. Well, really, what was I expecting—heroics?_**

"Patience, this takes a few seconds to get done." Set said while the other Gods, even if some only reluctantly, nodded their heads, one cant rush when it was about turning from a full animal form into a human form.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked when suddenly Desjardins gasped before scowling.

"I really should have known." he said and started reading again before someone could ask what he meant.

**_The two red-eyed monsters bared their fangs. They raised their heads and prepared to strike—and an explosion of dry air blasted through the room. It was so powerful, it knocked Carter and me to the floor. The serpopards stumbled and back away._**

Everyone blinked at the book when suddenly three of the antique gasped in realization.

**_I staggered to my feet and realized that the center of the blast had been _****_Muffin_****_. My cat was no longer there. In her place was a woman—small and lithe like a gymnast. Her jet-black hair was tied in a ponytail. She wore a skintight leopard-skin jumpsuit and Muffin's pendant around her neck._**

Desjardins hurried on reading while the others stared gaping at the book.

**_She turned and grinned at me, and her eyes were still Muffin's—yellow with black feline pupils. "About time," she chided._**

**_The serpopards got over their shock and charged the cat woman. Their heads struck with lightning speed. They should've ripped her in two, but the cat lady _**

Set lightly snickered at this, Bast would certainly be offended.

**_leaped straight up, flipping three times, and landed above them, perched on the mantel._**

**_She flexed her wrists, and two enormous knives shot from her sleeves into her hands. "_****_A-a-ah_****_, fun!"_**

**_The monsters charged. She launched herself between them, dancing and dodging with incredible grace, letting them lash at her futilely while she threaded their necks together. When she stepped away, the sepopards were hopelessly intertwined._**

"Nice work as usual." Set said, she and Bast may argue on occasions, but they were also still a team when it come to defending Ra and in some ways were they also friends, he would never tell it to her face, but she had come the closest as something like a sister to him, unlike his blood sisters.

**_The more they struggled, the tighter the knots became. They trampled back and forth, knocking over furniture and roaring in frustration._**

_"_**_Poor things," the cat woman purred. "Let me help."_**

**_Her knives flashed, and the two monsters' heads thudded to the floor at her feet. Their bodies collapsed and dissolved into enormous piles of sand._**

_"_**_So much for my playthings," the woman said sadly. "From sand they come, and to sand they return."_**

"Which unfortunately will reform eventually." older Amos said sighing, he will have to keep a good eye on the defence of both Brooklyn House and the First Nome when the baby is there.

**_She turned towards us, and the knives shot back into her sleeves. "Carter, Sadie, we should leave. Worse will be coming."_**

**_Carter made a choking sound. "_****_Worse_****_? Who—how—what—"_**

_"_**_All in good time." The woman stretched her arms above her head with great satisfaction. "So good to be in human form again! Now, Sadie, can you open us a door through the Duat, please?"_**

"Wish it would have been so easy to do at that time as it is now." Sadie said in a wistful tone while some of their visitors were still staring questioningly at the book.

**_I blinked. "Um... no. I mean—I don't know how."_**

**_The woman narrowed her eyes, clearly disappointed. "Shame. We'll need more power, then. An obelisk."_**

_"_**_But that's in London," I protested._**

"At that time was Carter the Egypt expert so I didn't know that there was also one nearby." Sadie said.

"Was this what you meant by a trip to Central Park?" younger Amos asked his niece who nodded, which of course made her parents groan.

_"_**_We can't—"_**

_"_**_There's a nearer one in Central Park. I try to avoid Manhattan,_**

"Now not so much." Sadie said, Bast loved to have more places to roam.

_**but this is an emergency. We'll just pop over and open a portal."**_

_"_**_A portal to where?" I demanded. "Who are you, and why are you my cat?"_**

**_The woman smiled. "For now, we just want a portal out of danger. As for my name, it's _****_not_****_ Muffin, thank you very much. It's—"_**

_"_**_Bast," Carter interrupted. _**

"What?" asked those who didn't know.

"You mean the Goddess?" Mrs. Faust asked as the others nodded in confirmation.

"Great, we will have a Goddess in the house." Mr. Faust grumbled while both Sadie and Carter tried not to flinch at that what will come in the next book.

**_"Your pendant—it's the symbol of Bast, goddess of cats. I thought it was just decoration but... that's you, isn't it?"_**

_"_**_Very good, Carter," Bast said. "Now come, while we can still make it out of here alive."_**

"Wonderful my children are running for their lives into at that time hostile territory while hosting two Gods, not fully understanding what is happening and being lead by a Goddess who was my daughter's pet for years. Just what every expecting mother wants to know about her children's future." Ruby groaned while Desjardins handed the book over to the Chief Lector, making the French letters turn into Alexandrian-Greek.

Looking down at the title needed the old magician to smile, both of these children certainly had some imagination when it come to some of the titles or things in the chapters, they both were certainly much like their parents and uncle.

**_We Run from Four Guys in Skirts_**

"Skirts?" some asked again in confusion.

"Well you need to admit that some clothes they wore in ancient times looked king of like skirts and dresses." Sadie said while Ramses tried not to shudder as he remembered what his little sisters had done to him.

_To be continued…_


	9. A nice day for a trip to the park

IX. A nice day for a trip to the park

**_So, yeah. Our cat was a goddess._**

**_What else is new?_**

"Nice try on the sarcasms dear brother, but Amos is kind of better at that then you." Sadie teased her brother who started pouting.

**_She didn't give us much time to talk about it. She ordered me to the library to grab my dad's magic kit, and when I came back she was arguing with Sadie about Khufu and Philip._**

_"_**_We have to search for them!" Sadie insisted._**

"Which was nice that you worried about them, but it would have been really dangerous to spend time with that." older Julius told his daughter as he remembered with a shudder whom they would be facing soon, he felt kind of sorry for his younger self.

"Yes, please get to safety." Ruby pleaded, she knew that the will survive and that this was for them years ago, but that didn't mean that at that time they hadn't gotten hurt.

_"_**_They'll be fine," said Bast. "However, _****_we_****_ will not be, unless we leave now."_**

**_I raised my hand. "_****_Um_****_, excuse me, Miss Goddess Lady?_**

Carter blushed at the looks he was receiving from the others, but luckily had the old Chief Lector taken pity on him and continued with reading.

**_Amos told us the house was—"_**

_"_**_Safe?" Bast snorted. "Carter, the defenses were too easily breached. Someone _****_sabotaged_****_ them."_**

"Then my second assumption had been correct." younger Amos said, but paled when Ruby glowered at him.

_"_**_What do you mean? Who—"_**

_"_**_Only a magician of the House could've done it."_**

Now it was Desjardins who felt like hiding.

_"_**_Another magician?" I asked. "Why would another magician want to sabotage Amos's house?"_**

_"_**_Oh, Carter," Bast sighed. "So young, so innocent. Magicians are devious creatures._**

The magicians raised their eyebrows, though Iskander had his head slightly bowed, he understood why the Goddess would say this.

"You are some of the exceptions, but one can understand our views about most magicians, it is hard to forget that those who had once respected you suddenly not only turn their back towards you, but start treating you like an animal to be hunted." Set said while both Walt and Sadie tried not to flinch, after their experience with Neith they both understood how it felt like to be hunted and it was not a pleasant feeling.

"As much as I hate it, I need to agree with Set, it is a terrible experience and it made a good deal of Gods resent mortals, some of those feelings still linger in some of them." Horus said as he remembered some of his arguments with other Gods who refused to allow magicians to take up their Path.

"It is still a long way till things settle themselves again." older Amos said before looking over at his old master who understood the message.

**_Could be a million reasons why one would backstab another,_**

More flinches, mostly when those of the present remembered what Sarah Jacobi had done together with Kwai and their followers, it had been dreadful that they would be so cruel to their fellow magicians. Cleo was also busy trying to ease Leonid's shaking as he remembered what had been done to his old friend, he also understood why Bast called them devious.

**_but we don't have time to discuss it. Now, come on!"_**

**_She grabbed our arms and led us out the front door. She'd sheathed her knives, but she still had some wicked sharp claws for fingernails that hurt as they dug into my skin._**

"She is part cat." older Julius reminded.

**_As soon as we stepped outside, the cold wind stung my eyes. We climbed down a long flight of metal stairs into the industrial yard that surrounded the factory._**

**_Dad's workbag was heavy on my shoulder. The curved sword I'd strapped across my back felt cold against my thin linen clothes. I'd started to sweat during the serpopard attack, and now my perspiration felt like it was turning to ice._**

Ruby looked again worried, Carter could get easily sick because of this.

**_I looked around for more monsters, but the yard seemed abandoned. Old construction equipment lay in rusting heaps—a bulldozer, a crane with a wrecking ball, a couple of cement mixers. Piles of sheet metal and stacks of crates made a maze of obstacles between the house and the street a few hundred yards away._**

While this was read were Amos and Set having a mental discussion if this could be used as a type of training ground for their child when it is a bit older and understands that there could be sharp objects hidden in those piles.

**_We were about halfway across the yard when an old gray tomcat stepped in our path. One of his ears was torn. His left eye was swollen shut. Judging from his scars, he'd spent most of his life fighting. _**

**_Bast crouched and stared at the cat. He looked up at her calmly._**

_"_**_Thank you," Bast said._**

**_The old tomcat trotted off toward the river._**

_"_**_What was that about?" Sadie asked._**

_"_**_One of my subjects, offering help. He'll spread the news about our predicament. Soon every cat in New York will be on alert."_**

_"_**_He was so battered," Sadie said. "If he's your subject, couldn't you heal him?"_**

Ruby was about to agree with her daughter, she loved animals and seeing them hurt was not something she liked, but before she could Set spoke up.

"She would never dishonour her subjects like that." she said in a firm tone, Bast had also always held her scars in high regard.

"It gets also explained here." Iskander spoke up to stop Ruby from protesting.

_"_**_And take away his marks of honor? A cat's battle scars are part of his identity. I couldn't—" Suddenly Bast tensed. She dragged us behind a stack of crates._**

_"_**_What is it?" I whispered._**

Everyone tensed again.

**_She flexed her wrists and her knives slid into her hands. She peeped over the top of the crates, every muscle in her body trembling. I tried to see what she was looking at, but there was nothing except the old wrecking-ball crane._**

**_Bast's mouth twitched with excitement. Her eyes were fixed on the huge metal ball. I'd seen kittens look like that when they stalked catnip toy mice, or pieces of string, or rubber balls... Balls? No. Bast was an ancient goddess. Surely she wouldn't—_**

"Oh, yes she would, see you know how most Egyptian Gods are also part animal and we kind of have also their instincts, you remember how we got to this situation after that potion got to work." Set said while this time Horus really received again a kick from Nephthys who now also had a blush on her cheeks as she remembered the time she had not allowed Set to hide out in the desert while in heat, those had been brilliant three

"It is a few times annoying." Thoth said, it is not a good impression if someone catches you while you are in your human form and eat live fish, a bit farther was Anubis also nodding, he always hid out in still undiscovered tombs when he goes into heat, it was not pleasant.

"So in other words, she has no control about that." Rachel said in a thoughtful tone while the Gods nodded their heads.

"It is true, animal instincts are terribly hard to control." Sadie said looking a bit green as she remembered eating that fruit bat, it was disgusting, but she could not help it.

"What do you mean?" her mother asked.

"Will be in this book." she said uneasily.

_"_**_This could be it." She shifted her weight. "Stay very _****_very_****_ still."_**

_"_**_There's no one there," Sadie hissed._**

**_I started to say, "_****_Um_****_..."_**

**_Bast lunged over the crates. She flew thirty feet through the air, knives flashing, and landed on the wrecking ball with such force that she broke the chain. The cat goddess and the huge metal sphere smashed into the dirt and went rolling across the yard._**

_"_**_Rowww!_****_" Bast wailed. The wrecking ball rolled straight over her, but she didn't appear hurt. She leaped off and pounced again. Her knives sliced through the metal like wet clay. Within seconds, the wrecking ball was reduced to a mound of scraps._**

"Those are extremely sharp knives." stated a blinking Amir, one did good to stay away from those.

**_Bast sheathed her blades. "Safe now!"_**

**_Sadie and I looked at each other._**

_"_**_You saved us from a metal ball," Sadie said._**

_"_**_You never know," Bast said. "It could've been hostile."_**

Everyone shook their heads at this, but from the earlier explanation understood that she could not have helped it no matter what.

**_Just then a deep _****_boom!_****_ shook the ground. I looked back at the mansion. Tendrils of blue fire curled from the top windows._**

_"_**_Come on," Bast said. "Our time is up!"_**

Both Amoses sighed, the younger one because he didn't want to imagine his home wrecked while the older because this was the first of many times Brooklyn House would be taken apart, the others only smiled apologetically at the older man.

**_I thought maybe she'd whisk us off by magic, or at least hail a taxi. Instead, Bast borrowed a silver Lexus convertible._**

"Borrowed?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We had no other options." Carter explained and Ruby needed to grudgingly admit that he was right.

_"_**_Oh, yes," she purred. "I like this one! Come along, children."_**

_"_**_But this isn't yours," I pointed out._**

_"_**_My dear, I'm a cat. Everything I _****_see_****_ is mine." _**

"_Should I understand this sentence that I will have to fight her for you and our child?" _Amos asked in amusement while Set tried not to blush at the comment, damn why was he still using such double meaning comments like this.

**_She touched the ignition and the keyhole sparked. The engine began to purr. [No, Sadie. Not like a cat, like an engine.]_**

Some people chuckled at this while Set slowly managed to make her blush disappear.

**_Sadie elbowed me. "We'll work out how to return it later, Carter. Right now we've got an emergency."_**

**_She pointed back toward the mansion. Blue flames and smoke now billowed from every window. _**

Cue flinches.

"I'm sorry." Set whispered to Amos who gave her a small smile.

"It is alright, if you remember others did much more often damage to it then you." he reassured her.

**_But that wasn't the scary part—coming down the stairs were four men carrying a large box, like an oversize coffin_**

Cue Julius and Osiris flinching.

**_with long handles sticking out at both ends. The box was covered with a black shroud and looked big enough for at least two bodies. The four men wore only kilts and sandals. Their coppery skin glinted in the sun as if made of metal._**

"Carriers!" gasped those from the past in shock and fear, those were really bad news.

_"_**_Oh, that's bad," Bast said. "In the car, please."_**

"Listen to her." Ruby pleaded.

"Mom, we are fine." Carter said reassuringly, but it seemed to do little for his mother's nerves.

**_I decided not to ask questions. Sadie beat me to the shotgun seat so I climbed in back. The four metallic guys with the box were racing across the yard, coming straight for us at an unbelievable speed. Before I even had my seat belt on, Bast hit the gas._**

**_We tore through the streets of Brooklyn, weaving insanely through traffic, riding over sidewalks, narrowly missing pedestrians._**

A good deal of people flinched by every word while both siblings tried not to shudder at the memory, it was not a fun ride.

"I think it is better that I warn her after we switch books that she should be ready to receive an invite to a race by Ares." Set said while making herself a mental note.

"Why is that?" Shelby asked curiously.

"Because this is how he tends to drive, but I think Bast would win seeing how after such joy rides Ares usually end up in he healing room by his brother Apollo while his bike by his other brother Hephaestus." Set explained while everyone paled.

"What God is he again?" Jazz asked.

"He is the God of War." Iskander spoke up while all eyes travelled to a confused Horus.

"Yes?" he asked them.

"I will never let you drive anything." Carter sated firmly to the War God who only blinked at him while everyone else nodded their heads in agreement, Thoth mostly now that he knew that it would have been a bad idea to allow Horus to drive his scooter as they went to the places in the city where they knew that they could find a large amount of sand in their search for Set.

**_Bast drove with reflexes that were... well, catlike._**

This relaxed the parents greatly.

**_Any human _**

"Or War God." Carter mumbled to himself as he remembered with a shudder that Horus had once been for a short time the one driving he Egyptian Queen, great now that thought will give him nightmares.

**_trying to drive so fast would've had a dozen wrecks, but she got us safely onto the Williamsburg Bridge._**

People flinched now that they knew what had happened on that bridge, it will be hard looking at it the same way as before.

**_I thought for sure we must've lost our pursuers,_**

"No such luck." Carter said with a shake of his head while Zia gripped his hand tightly.

**_but when I looked back, the four copper men with the black box were weaving in and out of traffic. They appeared to be jogging at a normal pace, but they passed cars that were doing fifty. Their bodies blurred like choppy images in an old movie, as if they were out of sync with the regular stream of time._**

_"_**_What _****_are_****_ they?" I asked. "_****_Shabti_****_?"_**

"Would have been better." Sadie said.

_"_**_No, carriers." Bast glances in the rearview mirror. "Summoned straight from the Duat. They'll stop at nothing to find their victims, throw them in the sedan—"_**

_"_**_The what?" Sadie interrupted._**

_"_**_The large box," Bast said. "It's a kind of carriage. The carriers capture you, beat you senseless,_**

"They don't like resisting." Ramses explained.

**_throw you in, and carry you back to their master. They never lose their prey, and they never give up."_**

_"_**_But what do they want us for?"_**

_"_**_Trust me," Bast growled, "you don't want to know."_**

"And luckily we never found out." Carter said which made their mother sigh in relief while Tawaret decided to renew her seal at the end of the chapter, Rachel's was still doing fine and Set's had already been renewed by Amos.

**_I thought about the fiery man last night in Phoenix—how he'd fried one of his servants into a grease spot. I was pretty sure I didn't want to meet him face-to-face again._**

"Technically, he is not so bad when he is on your side." Carter said while grinning at the God who smiled back at him, this of course made Narmer resume his muttering while Horus looked offended.

"Carter, how can you say such a thing when you are with me?" he asked his Eye.

"Firstly Hours I'm sill allowed to do what I want and secondly please refrain from such double meaning comments, I'm already dating someone." Carter told the God who blushed when he realized what he had implied.

_"_**_Bast," I said, "if you're a goddess, can't you just snap your fingers and disintegrate those guys? Or wave your hand and teleport us away?"_**

"The strength of our powers sometimes depend on our host's abilities and before our return had it been not easy to walk around for a longer period of time without one." Thoth explained, he himself needed to do a good deal of short trips to the Duat to be able to stay in the mortal world or to posses some of his ibises or baboons for some time.

"So this means that you are mostly here with our actually beings." Ruby stated while looking over the Gods. "Well, beside Osiris that is."

"That is true." Isis confirmed before looking over at Iskander who continued reading.

_"_**_Wouldn't that be nice? But my power in this host is limited."_**

_"_**_You mean Muffin?" Sadie asked. "But you're not a cat anymore."_**

_"_**_She's still my host, Sadie, my anchor on this side of the Duat—and a very imperfect one. Your call for help allowed me to assume human shape, but that alone takes a great deal of power. Besides, even when I'm in a _****_powerful_****_ host, Set's magic is stronger than mine."_**

"She must have been worried and nervous, those are the only times she admits that I'm stronger." Set said with a fond smile on her lips.

"She certainly was." Sadie admitted.

_"_**_Could you please say something that I actually understand?" I pleaded._**

_"_**_Carter, we don't have time for a full discussion on gods and hosts and the limits of magic! We have to get you to safety."_**

**_Bast floored the accelerator and shot up the middle of the bridge. The four carriers with the sedan raced after us, blurring the air as they moved, but no cars swerved to avoid them. No one panicked or even looked at them._**

_"_**_How can people not see them?" I said. "Don't they notice four copper men in skirts running up the bridge with a weird black box?"_**

"That would get some interesting looks." Julian mused to himself as he imagined that before Jaz hit him on the shoulder that he should pay attention and not daydream.

**_Bast shrugged. "Cats can hear many sounds you can't. Some animals see things in the ultraviolet spectrum that are invisible to humans. Magic is similar. Did you notice the mansion when you first arrived?"_**

_"_**_Well... no."_**

_"_**_And you are born to magic," Bast said. "Imagine how hard it would be for a regular mortal."_**

"The mist is certainly powerful and holds away unwanted attention." Walt said, he never wanted to find out what would happen if it should disappear, it would be pandemonium.

_"_**_Born to magic?" I remembered what Amos had said about our family being in the House of Life for a long time. "If magic, like, runs in the family, why haven't I ever been able to do it before?"_**

"That would have been because of me, I was trying to make sure at that time that you don't tap into your powers for your own safety." older Julius admitted, now he was not so sure if he did the right approach.

"It is fine dad." Carter reassured his father.

**_Bast smiled in the mirror. "Your sister understands."_**

**_Sadie's ears turned red. "No, I don't! I still can't believe you're a _****_goddess_****_. All these years, you've been eating crunchy treats, sleeping on my head—"_**

_"_**_I made a deal with your father," Bast said. _**

All eyes turned to older Julius while Iskander's eyes saddened by what he saw in the next lines.

**_"He let me remain in the world as long as I assumed a minor form, a normal housecat, so I could protect and watch over you. It was the least I could do after—" She stopped abruptly._**

The atmosphere become tense again, they had a good guess what was coming and the sad look those from the present had confirmed it while Amos tried to hold Set back from growling.

**_A horrible thought occurred to me. My stomach fluttered, and it had nothing to do with how fast we were going. "After our mom's death?" I guessed._**

Ruby bowed her head, so the place she loved so much as a child and had become the place she had lost her life had been all along the cold prison of a Goddess now protecting her children from harm.

How strange things were in a world where you know that mythology is still reality.

**_Bast stared straight ahead out the windowshield._**

_"_**_That's it, isn't it?" I said. "Dad and Mom did some kind of magic ritual at Cleopatra's Needle. Something went wrong. Our mom died and... and they released you?"_**

No one commented at this, they started understanding now, but Isis could feel her brother glaring at her and it made her shudder.

_"_**_That's not important right now," Bast said. "The point is I agreed to look after Sadie. And I will."_**

**_She was hiding something._**

"It will come up later in the book." Sadie told the others.

**_I was sure of it, but her tone made it clear that the subject was closed._**

_"_**_If you gods are so powerful and helpful," I said, "why does the House of Life forbid magicians from summoning you?"_**

**_Bast swerved into the fast lane. "Magicians are paranoid._**

"We need to agree with her." Carter said, he was having a hard time to get things fully settled and he didn't want to even imagine what Amos must have gone through with them, at least can he get them to listed with only mentioning Set's name.

**_Your best hope is to stay with me. We'll get as far away as possible from New York. Then we'll get help and challenge Set."_**

_"_**_What help?" Sadie asked._**

**_Bast raised an eyebrow. "Why, we'll summon more gods, of course."_**

"This was the end." Iskander said as Jaz stood up from he seat and walked over to him.

"I will read the next chapter." she said and Iskander handed her the book with a little smile while Tawaret walked over to Ruby and redid her seal before going back to her throne.

_To be continued…_


	10. Has someone a bug spray?

A/N: so finally found the time to get this done, sorry, but I started downloading old anime series like Bt' X, Patarillo! and Rose of Versailles and my head decided to assault me with story ideas…till now I managed to hold the Bt'X ones on planning range, but I was forced to do the first chapter for a Patarillo fic and a two-shot for Rose of Versailles and post them up on my other story account on another site, not sure if I should put them up here also seeing how people kind of seem not all to pleased by my problem of to many ideas…

…or hoping for some suggestions in reviews…by the PJO one I get them of course, the only problem is that people ignore what I write in the Author's note in the beginning and ask the same thing even if I gave an answer to that almost three times, so I'm sure that this note will be also ignored. Maybe I should start with what I saw by some fics that the author waited for a certain number of reviews before updating?

P.S.: completely forgot that I have my Name's Day today…my mom reminded me

* * *

X. Has someone a bug spray?

**"****_Bast Goes Green"_** Jaz read, when she remembered what this chapter will be about she quickly did a mental note to ask Set if there is someone at camp who knows how to deal with venoms, she would be glad for some restocking in the case of antidotes to be ready for anything.

"Huh…if I remember right is Bast not green." younger Julius said, well maybe if she gets sick in her human form, but he had never seen anything which showed the Goddess with that colour.

"Right, that would be the God you host." Desjardins mumbled to himself before turning back to the book, the faster they are over the better chances they have to get back home and prevent the idiocy of the other magician before he destroys the lives of his family.

**_[Sadie, stop it! Yeah, I'm getting to that part.] Sorry, she keeps trying to distract me by setting fire to my—never mind._**

Everyone turned quizzically to the two siblings who were fidgeting in their seats from all the looks they were getting.

"Sadie, what did you try to set fire to?" Ruby asked her daughter while mentally groaning, she could only pray that she would not turn out to be a fire elementalist or the apartment will also need to be made fireproof.

"It is not what you think." said hurriedly when she saw some of the looks by a few guys and Horus looked as if he would ask something which would mortify her for the rest of her wonderful life and maybe even afterlife. "I was just getting impatient and wanted to check if I could hit one of his notebooks with pea sized fireballs." she explained at which those whose mind had gone down the gutter sighed in relief.

"Good, I was al…" though Anubis clapped his hand over Horus's mouth before he could say something which would surely make them feel sick to the stomach, and he had unfortunately witnessed _what_ his father had eaten before getting here and it was already enough to make his stomach turn to think about it, no need to make things worse.

**_Where was I?_**

**_We barreled off the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan and headed north on Clinton Street._**

_"_**_They're still following," Sadie warned._**

Ruby groaned, she had not needed that info.

**_Sure enough, the carriers were only a block behind us, waving around cars and trampling over sidewalk displays of tourist junk._**

"**_We'll buy some time." Bast growled deep in her throat—a sound so low and powerful it made my teeth buzz._**

"Remind me to ask Hermes how he covered this up if the mist left out something." Set said gleefully, she had wondered why the carriers looked as if they would have made some type of marathon through a field with thorns.

"What do you mean?" Shelby asked, this was one of her favourite parts of the book.

"Easy, he is the one responsible for the hidden communication between Olymphos and the mortals, he kind of helps them make sense of the mist. Why do you thing he invented the internet." Thoth elaborated for the other God while those who knew what the internet was started gaping.

"He invented the internet?" they asked in shock, yep one learns everyday something new when surrounded by mythology.

"He did." Set said, the other had been pleased to give a lecture about how he did it and made the mortals believe that someone other was at work who did not have divine powers.

"I will be from now on kind of cautious when surfing on the net." Carter mumbled to himself.

"That is all nice and good, but what will be happening now?" Ruby asked and Jaz went to continue so that the woman's question gets answered.

**_She yanked the wheel and swerved right onto East Houston._**

**_I looked back. Just as the carriers turned to the corner, a horde of cats materialized all around them. _**

"Hoard?" Amos asked disbelieving.

"It was more like a large wave of fur." Carter told him with a shrug, it kind of teached him to not mess with cats.

**_Some jumped from windows. Some ran from the sidewalks and alleys. Some crawled from the storm drains. All of them converged on the carriers in a wave of fur and claws_**

"Forgot about the last one." Carter said while Ruby smiled, those things would not get to touch her children.

**—****_climbing up their copper legs, scratching their backs, clinging to their faces, and weighing down the sedan box. The carriers stumbled, dropping the box. They began blindly swatting at the cats. Two cars swerved to avoid the animals and collided, blocking the entire street, and the carriers went down under the mass of angry felines._**

"What an embarrassing way to go down, beaten by a bunch of fur balls." Horus said when he realized that Set was looking at him with a wicked grin on her lips.

"I will remember to tell her that." she told Horus who gulped and looked at Amos pleadingly to stop him, but the man only mirrored his God's grin.

"I may need to go shopping for some food for our feline guests, they will probably all be hungry after playing with Horus." he said in a thoughtful tone.

"Carter! Help me!" Horus yelled pleadingly while Narmer was glaring at this brother who looked more than amused as Julius leaned over to his brother.

"Amos, I hope that you remember that I always loved you no matter our differences." he whispered to him, something told him that he didn't want to get on either's bad side.

**_We turned onto FDR Drive,_**

"Wasn't he Zeus kid?" Thoth asked in a thoughtful tone, he remembered that Washington had been Athena's and that the current President was Hermes's kid, but he was not sure about Roosevelt.

"Yes he was." Set replied.

"Wait, what?" Sean asked blinking.

"Roosevelt had been a demigod son of Zeus, technically could one see World War Two as a type of family feud between cousins seeing how Churchill had been Poseidon's kid while Hitler's father was Hades."

"Uhuh…really nice to know, I will be later asking about a list of historical demigods." Carter said carefully, it was a bit scary to know when you find out that some rather prominent historical figures had a God as one of their parents.

**_and the scene disappeared from view._**

_"_**_Nice," I admitted._**

_"_**_It won't hold them long," Bast said. "Now—Central Park!"_**

**_Bast ditched the Lexus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art._**

**"****_We'll run from here," she said. "It's just behind the museum."_**

**_When she said run, she meant it._**

"I felt like I was taking part on a marathon." Sadie said, she had always seen herself as in good shape, but that run made her realize that it had been not the case.

**_Sadie and I had to sprint to keep up, and Bast wasn't even breaking a sweat._**

"She is used to be fast." Osiris said as he tried to hold out the guilt in his tone as he saw some of the faces darken while his wife shifted guiltily in her throne.

**_She didn't stop for little things like hot dog stands or parked cars. Anything under ten feet tall she leaped over with ease, leaving us to scramble around the obstacles as best as we could._**

"Are demigods also good in track?" Sadie asked then if yes will she have a hard time babysitting her baby cousin, and she was determined to play with the baby once it is there.

"They have obstacle training at their camps, it is part of their training to survive." Set said, they will really need to look over the junkyard around Brooklyn House to see if it could be useful.

"So nice to know."

**_We ran into the park on the East Drive. As soon as we turned north, the obelisk loomed above us. A little over seventy feet tall, it looked like an exact copy of the needle in London. It was tucked on a grassy hill, so it actually felt isolated, which is hard to achieve in the center of New York. _**

"It is Egyptian and that part of the city is Greek, so not surprising." Horus said with a shrug.

**_here was no one around except a couple of joggers farther down the path. I could hear the traffic behind us on Fifth Avenue, but even that seemed far away._**

**_We stopped at the obelisk's base. Bast sniffed the air as if smelling for trouble._**

"She probably was, that park has some dryads living in its trees and they would have immediately alerted the Olympians that another God stepped without invitation into their territory." Isis said while both Sadie and Carter shuddered, they had at that time enough trouble with the one Goddess coming after them into the Park, no need for more.

**_Once I was standing still, I realized just how cold I was. The sun was directly overhead, but the wind ripped right through my borrowed linen clothes._**

_"_**_I wish I'd grabbed something warmer," I muttered. "A wool coat would be nice."_**

_"_**_No, it wouldn't," Bast said, scanning the horizon. "You're dressed for magic."_**

**_Sadie shivered. "We have to freeze to be magical?"_**

"The cold is not bad." Felix said enthusiastically while Set leaned over to Amos.

"I think I may sometime introduce him to Khione, those two would get along just fine." she whispered to Amos who turned to her.

"Only when he is over eighteen, looking how he loves ice and cold I would not want a fourteen years old teenage magician trying to raise a demigod baby with ice powers." he told her and fortunately Set nodded that she understood, mostly that with Felix having an affinity to create ice and snow would the child be probably two times as powerful as it should be in the case if the father would have been a mortal.

_"_**_Magicians avoid animal products," Bast said absently. "Fur, leather, wool, any of that. The residual life aura can interfere with spells."_**

_"_**_My boots seem all right," Sadie noted._**

_"_**_Leather," Bast said with distaste._**

"My new ones are out of synthetic leather now." Sadie said, they were not as bad as she had first thought that they would be.

_"_**_You may have a higher tolerance, so a bit of leather won't bother your magic. I don't know. But linen clothing is always best, or cotton—plant material. At any rate, Sadie, I think we're clear for the moment. There's a window of auspicious time starting right now, at eleven thirty, but it won't last long. Get started."_**

"A little help would have been great at that time." Sadie mumbled to herself while Isis squirmed in her throne.

**_Sadie blinked. "Me? Why me? You're the goddess!"_**

"She is terrible with them." Set said with a snort as she remembered one incident which ended with them giving Sobeck almost a heart attack as the two of them landed in his bathtub right as she wanted to get in, they crashed in, spilling out some water and bubbles before running out apologizing, their eyes covered.

_"_**_I'm not good at portals," Bast said._**

"Nice understatement." Set said again as the others wondered if they should ask Amos to try getting the story out of him or Sadie should try her luck by Bast.

**_"Cats are protectors._**

Everyone noded at this.

**_Just control your emotions. Panic or fear will kill a spell. We _****_have_****_ to get out of here before Set summons the other gods to his cause."_**

"The last sentence didn't exactly help me with calming down." Sadie said while Iskander looked down guiltily, Thoth on the other hand was trying to get his throne farther away from the other's without being noticed.

**_I frowned. "You mean Set's got, like, other evil gods on speed dial?"_**

"Those would be the demons, in the case of the other Gods was it more like, angry Gods who wanted revenge on the treacherous House of Life." Set said smiling.

"We kind of got that later on." Carter said, sometimes he really wondered what would have been would the magicians not have turned their backs on their Gods, the Greco-Roman ones show pretty well that there was a way, though most of those still believing in them are ether their kids or mortals who found out that they had attracted a God.

**_Bast glanced nervously toward the trees. "Evil and good may not be the best way to think of it, Carter. As a magician, you must think about chaos and order. _****_Those_****_ are the two forces that control the universe. Set is all about chaos."_**

"A much needed chaos." older Amos said as he threw a dark look first at both Horus and Isis and then at Narmer. Set on the other hand did her best to not blush because of the comment, it had been really long ago that someone had taken her side.

Jaz caught the look Sadie was giving her and hurried on reading before someone could comment, but she kind of noticed the small tinge of pink on Set's cheeks which made her hold back a smile at how in some strange way cute that looked that the God felt embarrassed for Amos sticking up for her.

_"_**_But what about the other gods Dad released?" I persisted. "Aren't they the good guys? Isis, Osiris, Horus, Nephthys—where are they?"_**

"Let's see, Nephthys was kind of put out of full motion" the Goddess gave an apologetic smile to Zia, the fact that she was a fire user while she a Water Goddess had been not the most fortunate combination for either of them, if not for the spell they would have ended up hurting each other like by the first time her hus…ex-husband took over his host. "Osiris and dad have some unplanned vacation in a sarcophagus and the other two are stubbornly keeping shut." Sadie listed while both God and host flinched at the memory of their coffin, the other two Gods on the other had were busy shifting uncomfortably in their thrones.

"Also, I would not exactly call all of them the good guys." Carter whispered to the others with him.

**_Bast fixed her eyes on me. "That's a good question, Carter."_**

"I think at that time she was trying to not glare at me." Horus said, though that had not stopped the shiver running down his spine at that time.

"So nice that a good deal of Gods we met wanted a chat with you." Carter told the God who smiled at him sheepishly.

**_A Siamese cat broke through the bushes and ran up to Bast. The looked at each other for a moment. Then the Siamese dashed away._**

_"_**_The carriers are close," Bast announced. "And something else... something much stronger, closing in from the east. I think the carriers' master has grown impatient."_**

"It was more like that I could not believe that it took them so long to get their hands on two untrained magicians, hosting my two least liked relatives, at that time I did not know that Bast was with them." Set explained while the others nodded.

**_My heart did a flip. "_****_Set_****_ is coming?"_**

"I was kind of busy at that time drawing plans." Set told the group.

"Plans for what?" Ramses asked the God.

"It will be in the book in a couple of chapters." she said remembering Carter's little ba trip as the others bit back groans that they will need to wait.

_"_**_No," Bast said. "Perhaps a minion. Or an ally. My cats are having trouble describing what they're seeing, and I _****_don't_****_ want to find out._**

"Neither did we, but did anyway." Carter said while his parents and uncle paled.

**_Sadie, now is the time. Just concentrate on opening a gateway to the Duat. I'll keep off the attackers. Combat magic is my specialty."_**

"I'm better." Horus mumbled to himself while Anubis rolled his eyes at him.

_"_**_Like what you did in the mansion?" I asked._**

**_Bast showed her pointed teeth. "No, that was just combat."_**

**_The woods rustled, and the carriers emerged. Their sedan chair's shroud had been shredded by cat claws. The carriers themselves were scratched and dented. One walked with a limp, his leg bent backward at the knee. Another had a car fender wrapped around his neck._**

"I was kind of wondering about that one also when they got back." Set said with a shake of her head, getting competent work was unfortunately hard in every era.

**_The four metal men carefully set down their sedan chair. They looked at us and drew golden metal clubs from their belts._**

_"_**_Sadie, get to work," Bast ordered. "Carter, you're welcome to help me."_**

**_The cat goddess unsheathed her knives. Her body began to glow with a green hue. _**

"Well, that explains the title." younger Julius said as Desjardins rolled his eyes, biting back a sarcastic remark when catching the look the old Chief Lector was giving him.

**_An aura surrounded her, growing larger, like a bubble of energy, and lifting her off the ground. The aura took shape until Bast was encased in a holographic projection about four times her normal size. It was an image of the goddess in her ancient form—a twenty-foot-tall woman with the head of a cat. Floating in midair in the center of the hologram, Bast stepped forward. The giant cat goddess moved with her. It didn't seem possible that a see-through image could have substance,_**

"You two really should have had at least some education about our world." Ruby said while massaging her forehead, at lest she knew that they will survive.

**_but its foot shook the ground. Bast raised her hand. The glowing green warrior did the same, unsheathing claws as long and sharp as rapiers. Bast swiped the sidewalk in front of her and shredded the pavement to concrete ribbons. She turned and smiled at me. The giant cat's head did likewise, baring horrible fangs_**

Horus nodded wholeheartedly at this while Ruby let out a thankful prayer that at the time hostile other Gods did not react to the trouble in Central Park.

**_that could've bitten me in half._**

_"_**_This_****_," Bast said, "is combat magic."_**

**_At first I was too stunned to do anything_**

"Which is not good when a fight is going on." Amos said, he would have preferred by the fight in the Hall of Ages when the children had come in that they would have not stood there like statues as he and Set tried to defeat the enemy and when they finally moved was it already too late.

**_but watch as Bast launched her green war machine into the middle of the carriers._**

**_She slashed one carrier to pieces with a single swipe, then stepped on another and flattened him into a metal pancake._**

"I think that grilled chicken may have stepped on that one and got thrown into the wall." Set whispered to Amos who grinned in amusement at the mental thought.

**_The other two carriers attacked her holographic legs, but their metal clubs bounced harmlessly off the ghostly light with showers of sparks._**

**_Meanwhile Sadie stood in front of the obelisk with her arms raised, shouting: "Open, you stupid piece of rock!"_**

"Well, that was certainly a new way to formulate a summon." Hatshepsut said in amusement. "I believe it didn't work." she said while looking at Sadie who shook her head in the negative.

**_Finally I drew my sword. My hands were shaking. I didn't want to charge into battle, but I felt like I should help. _**

"At least one of them has self-preservation." Ruby mumbled to herself.

"There is nothing wrong with charging into battle." Horus said in a firm tone, but the others ignored him.

**_And if I _****_had_****_ to fight, I figured having a twenty-foot-tell glowing cat warrior on my side was the way to do it. "Sadie, I'm—I'm going to help Bast. Keep trying!"_**

_"_**_I _****_am_****_!"_**

**_I ran forward just as Bast sliced the other two carriers apart like loaves of bread. With relief, I thought: _****_Well, that's it._**

"Not exactly." Carter said while his mom grabbed her husband's arm.

**_Then all four carriers began to re-form. The flat one peeled himself off the pavement. The sliced ones' pieces clicked together like magnets, and the carriers stood up good as new._**

_"_**_Carter, help me hack them apart!" Bast called. "They need to be in smaller pieces!"_**

**_I tried to stay out of Bast's way as she sliced and stomped._**

**_Then as soon as she disabled a carrier, I went to work chopping its remains into smaller pieces. They seemed more like Play-Doh than metal, because my blade mashed them up pretty easily._**

**_Another few minutes and I was surrounded by piles of coppery rubble. Bast made a glowing fist and smashed the sedan into kindling._**

_"_**_That wasn't so hard," I said. "What were we running for?"_**

**_Inside her glowing shell, Bast's face was coated with sweat._**

"Her host may be compatible with her, but the fact that it is a normal animal, the fact that she had for some years not used her magic and the amount of energy an avatar takes up can be exhausting for anyone." older Amos explained, keeping Set's avatar up had been not easy, mostly that it had been his first try at that time of the attack, not that he wasn't grateful for it, but it had still been exhausting.

"I can agree on that." Carter said, it really made him tired to use his avatar for a long period of time with many movements.

**_It hadn't occurred to me that a goddess could get tired, but her avatar must've taken a lot of effort._**

"Now I know better." Carter said with a small nod of his head.

_"_**_We're not safe yet," she warned. "Sadie, how's it coming?"_**

_"_**_It's not," Sadie complained. "Isn't there another way?"_**

**_Before Bast could answer, the bushes rustled with a new sound—like rain, except more _****_slithery_****_._**

**_A chill ran up my back. "What... what is that?"_**

Everyone tensed in their seats, mostly those who didn't know what was coming.

_"_**_No," Bast murmured. "It can't be. Not her."_**

"I found where she had been first, it was who comes first can attack first." Set said with a shrug while those who didn't know whom he had sent exchanged nervous glances with each other.

**_Then the bushes exploded. A thousand brown creepy-crawlies poured from the woods in a carpet of grossness—all pincers and stinging tails._**

"No…from all Goddesses it needed to be that one…" Ruby said paling while Iskander looked again down in guilt, it had been his decision which had brought the wrath of the Gods on them all.

**_I wanted to yell, "Scorpions!" But my voice wouldn't work. My legs started trembling. I _****_hate_****_ scorpions._**

Horus nodded his head vigorously, he had once tried getting her on a date, it ended pretty bad and embarrassing for him to say at least.

**_They're everywhere in Egypt. Many times I'd found them in my hotel bed or shower. Once I'd even found one in my sock._**

_"_**_Sadie!" Bast called urgently._**

_"_**_Nothing!" Sadie moaned._**

**_The scorpions kept coming—thousands upon thousands. Out of the woods a woman appeared, walking fearlessly through the middle of the arachnids._**

"It is not good if a God fears their subjects." Cleo stated.

**_She wore brown robes with gold jewelry glinting around her neck and arms. Her long black hair was cut Ancient Egyptian-style with a strange crown on top. Then I realized it wasn't a crown—she had a live, supersize scorpion nesting on her head. Millions of the little nasties swirled around her like she was the center of their storm._**

"Technically she was." Anubis muttered, not wanting to upset Sadie's mother.

_"_**_Serqet," Bast growled._**

"They kind of had a disagreement the last time they had seen each other." Set said, she did not know what it was bout, but Bast had been pretty enraged and ordered him to spar with her till they needed to get on the Sun Boat.

_"_**_The scorpion goddess," I guessed. Maybe that should've terrified me, but I was already pretty much at my maximum._**

"At least you won't feel scared anymore, just great." Ruby groaned, these books and her hormones were doing no good for her.

**_"Can you take her?"_**

**_Bast's expression didn't reassure me._**

_"_**_Carter, Sadie," she said, "this is going to get ugly. Get to the museum. Find the temple. It may protect you."_**

_"_**_What temple?" I asked._**

_"_**_And what about you?" Sadie added._**

_"_**_I'll be fine. I'll catch up." But when Bast looked at me, I could tell she wasn't sure. She was just buying us time._**

Sadie leaned against Walt, she had been so worried about Bast at that time, she had also felt useless about the fact that she had not been able to open a portal and gotten them into safety.

_"_**_Go!" she ordered. She turned her giant green cat warrior to face the mass of scorpions._**

**_Embarrassing truth? In the face of those scorpions, I didn't even pretend to be brave. I grabbed Sadie's arm and we ran._**

"At that time it was the best thing you could have done." Jaz said reassuringly to Carter while handing the book over to Julian who flipped to the next chapter, before snorting.

"Sadie, I hope that you are fireproof." he said with a snicker while Sadie paled as she remembered her more then unflattering thoughts about Zia, well it was her shabti, but still.

"Oh, Gods." she groaned while burying her head into Walt's shirt as she mumbled something along the lines of an apology.

"What is with her?" Zia asked while Carter also remembered what will be coming, well he kind of had now a clue why Sadie was acting so strange.

_**We Meet the Human Flamethrower**_

Everyone stared at the book in confusion before Zia turned to Sadie with raised eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" she asked the other girl while her parent's paled.

"Sorry, I now kind of really like you." Sadie told her earnestly, while also giving her brother a look that he should please put his arms around his girlfriend and hold her back if needed.

_To be continued…_


	11. The new meaning of the term 'fiery girl'

A/N: so here is a new chapter which is a double-issue type of chap and as I point out and kind of get ignored anyway I would really appreciate some feedback in comments… other news is that there will be a surprise when the group reaches chapter 23

* * *

XI. The new meaning of the term 'fiery girl'

Zia still frowning at Sadie, fine she admitted that they had not the best start of things, but something told her that she would not like some of the things written in the next chapters about her or her shabti, but that was not a big difference.

"That is you?" at the voice of her father she turned around, noting how both of her parents felt a bit nervous which reminded her on the uncomfortable fact that they will soon know about their deaths. This will be hard.

"More or less, you will understand at the end of the book." she said after taking a deep breath before signalling to Julian that he should read while Carter wrapped his arms around her. She guessed that this was both for comfort and to hold her back from Sadie, he was such a lovely guy.

**_Right, I'm taking the microphone. There is _****_no chance_****_ Carter would tell this part properly, as it's about Zia._**

Carter blushed at this as the others tried to hold in their snickers while Amir looked still a bit undecided, one could understand his wife is still in the early months of her pregnancy, then they get whisked of into the future where he meets his daughter and in addition her boyfriend who is hosting a God. Which father would not feel conflicted about something like that?

Rachel on the other hand looked over at Ruby who gave her a smile, they had no problem with the thought of whom their future children are together with as long as they are happy and loved.

**_[Shut up, Carter. You know it's true.]_**

Carter was still busy fighting his blush while Zia only smiled at her boyfriend, after the whole Apophis affair had they started to actually date like a normal or as normal they could manage couple and were having in four days their seventh year anniversary.

**_Oh, who is Zia?_**

**_Sorry, getting ahead of myself._**

**_We raced to the entrance of the museum, and I had no idea why, except that a giant glowing cat woman had told us to._**

"Well, now I know that when in a world where mythology is reality someone tells you to run, then it is really better to do that as fast as you can." Sadie said, all that running, using magic and fighting at least kept her in shape, meaning she could allow herself to eat what she liked and not be worried about gaining weight.

"That is true." the others said.

**_Now, you must realize I was already devastated by everything that had happened. First, I'd lost my father. _**

Both Juliuses flinched at this.

**_Second, my loving grandparents_****_had kicked me out of the flat._**

Now it were the Fausts who flinched.

"Uhm…I get now that neither of you had an alternative at that time of those two things." Sadie spoke up.

**_Then I'd discovered I was apparently "blood of the pharaohs," born to a magical family, and all sorts of rubbish that sounded quite impressive but only brought me loads of trouble._**

"I don't agree on the rubbish part anymore, but the trouble aspect is not easy to deny." Sadie corrected her past self.

"Nothing is easy in our world." Amos told his niece as the other adults nodded their heads in agreement.

"Though it also allows us to both know and see things others will never have the chance to experience." Jaz spoke up, she agreed that sometimes it was hard to bear mostly the war which they had went through, but she would never give it up. Since taking up her birthright had she also experienced so many wondrous things none of her friends at home would ever believe was possible.

"I think we can all agree on that." Ruby said smiling, but on the inside she wanted to know if her children will be fine, luckily Julian decided that this was the time he should continue.

**_And as soon as I'd found a new home—a mansion with proper breakfast and friendly pets and quite a nice room for me, by the way—_**

Sadie blushed while some of the others snorted.

**_Uncle Amos disappeared, my lovely new crocodile and baboon friends were tossed in a river, and the mansion was set on fire._**

"The first of many disasters hitting it." older Amos said while keeping his arms around the God beside him who held back a flinch.

"So nice to hear." his younger counterpart replied sarcastically, fine he may have on some depressing days wished for the Twenty-First to become more lively again, but he didn't mean _that _lively.

"Well, at least we all have enough practice with the hi-nehm spell." Sadie said, which kind of was the truth, by the amount of times they needed to use it.

**_And if _****_that_****_ wasn't enough, my faithful cat Muffin had decided to engage in a hopeless battle with a swarm of scorpions._**

**_Do you call it a "swarm" for scorpions? A herd? A gaggle? Oh, never mind._**

"Swarm." replied half the room.

**_The point is I couldn't believe I'd been asked to open a magic doorway when clearly I had no such skill,_**

Isis was again squirming in her throne uncomfortably, it didn't help that Sadie was not looking at her, but at her lap.

**_and now my brother was dragging me away. I felt like an utter failure. _**

**_[And no comments from you, Carter. As I recall, _****_you_****_ weren't much help at the time, either.]_**

"Both of you did what you could with the minimal knowledge you had." Ruby reassured her children, they will definitely teach them at least the main basics about their world.

The siblings nodded with slight smiles.

_"_**_We can't just leave Bast!" I shouted. "Look!"_**

**_Carter kept running, dragging me along, but I could see quite clearly what was happening back at the obelisk. A mass of scorpions had crawled up Bast's glowing green legs and were wriggling into the hologram like it was gelatin. Bast smashed hundreds of them with her feet and fists, but there were simply too many. Soon they were up to her waist, and her ghostly shell began to flicker._**

"They were helped by the magic of their patron, as for the flickering if an avatar gets damaged by another force with some degree of opposite attribute as that of the caster's then it can flicker because of the damage if the attributes are the same or similar then it does nothing." Thoth explained while the Kane siblings and their initiates remembered the fight in the Hall of Ages where they had seen both examples happening.

**_Meanwhile, the brown-robed goddess advanced slowly, and I had a feeling she would be worse than any number of scorpions._**

"Got that right." Horus said shuddering while Set did her best to not smirk at him.

"What did you do?" Carter asked the God, sure as an Eye you get the chance to see your comrade God's memories, but there were a number of memories which Horus kind of forbade him to view.

"Nothing." he answered hastily while Isis only shook her head at the memory, similarly to Osiris who had heard about the incident.

"He only experienced what Bast had at that time, with the exception that he had no time to call his avatar before he was not only handed a basket, but unceremoniously thrown out of a temple in a rather painful way." Thoth spoke up seeing that Sekhmet had come to him for some indegrements for a salve against scorpion bites.

While a good deal of people broke out laughing, except the two past Chief Lectors who attempted to keep a straight face, Mr. Faust who was staring strangely at his wife and Narmer who scowled, the laughter took up about five minutes to cease in which timeframe a bet red Horus was glaring at Thoth who was giving him an innocent smile.

**_Carter pulled me through a row of bushes and I lost sight of Bast. We burst onto Fifth Avenue, which seemed ridiculously normal after the magic battle. We ran down the sidewalk, shoved through a knot of pedestrians, and climbed the steps of the Met._**

**_A banner above the entrance announced some sort of special Christmas event, which I suppose is why the museum was open on a holiday, but I didn't bother reading the details._**

"In the end it was not that important." Carter said who later looked it up.

"Looks as if that the museum has some kind of enchantment on it." Set said while both her and Amos gave a fleeting glare to Hours who was still busy glaring at Thoth to notice the pair.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Well, beside our unplanned incident" Horus stopped his glaring when pain shoot through his leg "and the two going there for a portal was this place where Percy come face-to-face with his inheritance." Set finished explaining to her.

**_We pushed straight inside._**

**_What did it look like? Well, it was a museum: huge entry hall, lots of columns and so on. I can't claim I spent much time admiring the decor. I do remember it had queues for the ticket windows, because we ran right pass them. There were also security guard, because they yelled at us as we dashed into the exhibits. By luck, we ended up in the Egyptian area, in front of a reconstructed tomb sort of place with narrow corridors. Carter probably could've told you what the structure was supposed to be, but honestly I didn't care._**

"Well at that time would knowing the structure not have been that what would get us out of the mess." Sadie pointed out when some people turned into her direction.

_"_**_Come on," I said._**

**_We slipped inside the exhibit, which proved quite enough to lose the security guards, or perhaps they had better things to do than pursue naughty children._**

"It was more because some of the exhibits have a small trace of the mist on them which reacts to people from our worlds." older Amos explained, it had come as a surprise to him when he had noticed it for the first time.

"So when we slipped in they didn't see us anymore and this is why they left." Carter said in a stunned tone while looking at both Sadie and Zia, they had not noticed this.

**_When we popped out again, we sneaked around until we were sure we weren't being followed. They Egypt wing wasn't crowded—just a few clumps of old people and a foreign tour group with a guide explaining a sarcophagus in French. "_****_Et voici la momie_****_!"_**

"That was a horrible punctuation." Desjardins spoke up disdainfully after hearing Julian's failed attempt at French so he didn't notice the Demon Days nodding their heads in agreement to his statement.

"I never learned French beforehand." Julian defended himself and started continuing before he gets a long lecture or someone suggest that he takes language classes, he already hated those in school no need for more also here.

**_Strangely, no one seemed to notice the enormous sword on Carter's back,_**

"The mist and its usefulness." Carter said with a smirk, though he now really liked using his Duat locker.

**_which surely must've been a security issue (and much more interesting than the exhibits)._**

A few people only shook their heads at this while others snickered as Sadie blushed, yep Drew will have a field day while reading these books.

**_A few old people did give us odd looks, but I suspect that was because we were dressed in linen pajamas, drenched in sweat, and covered in grass and leaves. My hair was probably a nightmare as well. I found an empty room and pulled Carter aside. The glass cases were full of _****_shabti_****_. A few days earlier I wouldn't have given them a second thought. Now, I kept glancing at the statues, sure they'd come to life any minute and try to bash me on the head._**

"It feels so weird once you find out, doesn't it?" Ruby asked as the ohters nodded in agrement with her, it was kind of really weird if you knew that those were not only small statues, but could easily come to life.

_"_**_What now?" I asked Carter. "Did you see any temple?"_**

_"_**_No." He knit his eyebrows as if trying hard to remember._**

"It was not easy, my mind was kind of still stuck progressing all the new informations and that combined with the attacks made things even harder." Carter admitted.

_"_**_I think there's a rebuilt temple down that hall... or is that in the Brooklyn Museum? Maybe the one in the Munich? Sorry, I've been to so many museums with Dad that they all get mixed together."_**

Carter nodded before stiffening, not far from his Sadie did the same as they suddenly remembered what will be coming up. Looking at each other nervously they both turned to both age forms of their father.

"Uh…dad, please try not to take these to your heart." Carter said.

"Mum, Osiris could you please…" Sadie asked, luckily she didn't need to finish as both called understood while both Juliuses looked confused about what will come, it also didn't help that the siblings mumbled one last apology and hid their faces again in the hair or shirt of their partner.

**_I sighed in exasperation. "Poor boy, forced to travel the world, skip school, and spend time with Dad while I get a whole two days a year with him!"_**

Both Juliuses flinched as Sadie tried to hold in her guilt, now she understood better and knew how selfish she had acted and hurt her brother's feelings. The others on the other hand squirmed in their seats, somehow they had the feeling that they should not be hearing this.

_"_**_Hey!" Carter turned on me with surprising force. "You get a _****_home_****_! You get friends and a normal life and don't wake up each morning wondering what country you're in! You don't—"_**

Cue flinches as Julian tired to hurry on reading so that this part of the chapter could be over, the heavy feelings raising in the room made everyone feel uncomfortable.

**_The glass case next to us shattered, spraying glass at our feet._**

**_Carter looked at me, bewildered. "Did we just—"_**

_"_**_Like my exploding birthday cake," I grumbled, trying not to let on how startled I was._**

"Something tells me that it didn't work, Ruby had also problem with that." younger Amos said while looking sadly at his family, he hoped that at least some things could be changed for the better.

_"_**_You need to control your temper."_**

Everyone who knew the siblings turned to Sadie with perplexed looks on their faces asking. _"Him?"_

"Sadie, when it comes to the two of you have you a harder time to control your anger." Jaz pointed out to her friend who had a small blush on her cheeks and refrained from answering, except giving Julian a signal that he should read.

"**_Me_****?"**

**"****We asked the same question." Replied all who had commented before this sentence.**

**_Alarms began to blare. Red lights pulsed through the corridor._**

Ruby groaned at this while still making small circles on her husband's back who looked still a bit saddened about how his future children will feel because of him.

**_A garbled voice came on the loudspeaker and said something about proceeding calmly to the exits._**

There were several snorts at this.

"That sentence never works." Mr. Faust stated with a shake of his head, the moment an alarm goes off people become headless chickens.

"At least some things don't change much." Ramses said in amusement.

**_The French tour group ran past us, screaming in panic, followed by a crowd of remarkably fast old people with walkers and canes._**

"Adrenalin does that to you." Sean commented.

"Also, before people break out panicking in a couple of sentences Serqet followed specific orders to only get the siblings meaning she and her servants left the mortals alone." Set decided to put in which seemed to have been a good idea because everyone seemed to relax, mostly the Kane siblings and Zia who had been worried that innocent would come to harm from the scorpions.

"It was good that you told them this." Amos whispered to Set who smiled back at him when she noticed the hidden praise in her Eye's words.

_"_**_Let's finish arguing later, shall we?" I told Carter. "Come on!"_**

**_We ran down another corridor, and the sirens died as suddenly as they'd started. The blood-red lights kept pulsing in eerie silence. Then I heard it: the slithering, clacking sounds of scorpions._**

"I really appreciate now the thought that the mortals come to no harm." Ruby said, in any other case she would have worried, emptying the museum would not happen this fast.

"We agree." come it from Carter, Sadie and Zia.

_"_**_What about Bast?" My voice choked up. "Is she—"_**

_"_**_Don't think about it," Carter said, though, judging from his face, that's _****_exactly_****_ what he was thinking about._**

"At least you tried to get my thoughts away from that." Sadie told her brother.

"Beside that, it takes much more then a swarm of scorpions to defeat Bast." Set spoke up while the others nodded, that was true.

_"_**_Keep moving!"_**

**_Soon we were hopelessly lost. As far as I could tell, the Egyptian section part of the museum was designed to be as confusing as possible,_**

"Percy would certainly agree with you about that." Set said in amusement, the son of the Sea God was powerful, but his little flaws made him certainly more human then some of the past heroes which certainly was not a bad thing.

**_with dead ends and halls that doubled back on themselves. We passed hieroglyphic scrolls, gold jewelry, sarcophagi, statues of pharaohs, and huge chunks of limestone._**

With each word on the list looked the four from the antique paler and paler till they nearly looked white in the face.

**_Why would someone display a rock? Aren't there enough of those in the world?_**

Sadie gave Julian a look which clearly said that he should read or else he will be the one cleaning Brooklyn House by hand and not magic if he should not hurry up.

**_We saw no one, but the slithering sounds grew louder no matter which way we ran. Finally I rounded a corner and smacked straight into someone._**

Carter, Zia and Sadie glanced at each other before turning back to the book before anyone could notice.

**_I yelped and scrambled backwards, only to stumble into Carter._**

"Nice first in a way second impression." Julian snickered and read on while Carter blushed, did he not know? First he is half unconscious, by the second time he falls tanks to Sadie and the third meeting…well that one could have also gone better.

**_We both fell on bums in a most unflattering way._**

"I can agree on that." Zia said while her parents looked pale, great their daughter will be facing a Goddess and her scorpions, the Kanes only gave them sympathetic looks, they were on an emotional rollercoaster since the first sentence of the book.

**_It's a miracle Carter didn't impale himself on his own sword._**

What did they say by the last sentence? The roller coaster goes on a new ride right away.

**_At first I didn't recognize the girl standing in front of us, which seems strange, looking back on it. Perhaps she was using some sort of magic aura, or perhaps I just didn't want to believe it was _****_her_****_._**

"It may have been the later." Zia said while she noted how Carter's arms have tightened around her and how Sadie switched places with Walt.

**_She looked a bit taller than me. Probably older, too, but not by much._**

"Only the same age as your brother." Zia said while both her and Carter's mother looked down fondly at their baby bellies.

**_Her black hair was trimmed along her jawline and longer in the front so that it swept over her eyes._**

The visitors gaze looked over to the young woman who had her hair now shoulder length which was a little bit longer in the back.

**_She had caramel-colored skin and pretty, vaguely Arab features. Her eyes—lined in black kohl, Egyptian style—were a strange amber color that was either quite beautiful or a bit scary; I couldn't decide which._**

"I take that as a compliment." Zia said when her mother spoke up.

"You have inherited your grandmother's eyes." she told her daughter who gave her a small smile, she did not know that and it made her really happy to hear.

Carter only smiled at his girlfriend, he really loved her eyes, they were beautiful.

**_She had a backpack on her shoulder, and wore sandals and loose-fitting linen clothes like ours. She looked as if she were on her way to a martial arts class. God, now that I think of it, we probably looked the same way. How embarrassing._**

There were again some snickers.

**_I slowly began to realize I'd seen her before. She was the girl with the knife from the British Museum._**

Zia winced as some of the others turned in her direction while Carter pulled her a bit closer in reassurance.

**_Before I could say anything, Carter sprang to his feet. He moved in front of me and brandished his sword as if trying to _****_protect_****_ me. Can you believe the nerve?_**

Sadie looked down guiltily while the others looked at her unbelievingly.

"She had a hard time to get back into the role of being a little sister who has her brother protecting her. As I have said in the book a few chapters ago, it had been years since the two of us had been in a role of normal siblings and not like two people who see each other only like twice a year and even then interact only a little." Sadie gave her brother a thankful look, she really appreciated his help.

The others nodded reluctantly at Carter's words and turned back to the book, though some, who had a good relationship with at least one of their siblings still had a slight frown on their faces.

_"_**_Get—get back!" he stammered._**

"To be honest, I kind of found that adorable, even though you failed to look intimidating with the stammer." Zia said with a small giggle which made Carter blush, but this seemed to lift everyone's mood again.

**_The girl reached into her sleeve and produced a curved white piece of ivory—an Egyptian wand._**

**_She flicked it to one side, and Carter's sword flew out of his hands and clattered to the floor._**

_"_**_Don't embarrass yourself,"_**

"See." Zia said, her smile still in place while Carter mumbled something under his breath while some of the others snickered at how he looked.

"I think this is what the mortals nowadays refer to as _'burned'_." Thoth whispered to his fellow Gods while Osiris also smiled at his host who was lost in embarrassing/frustrating memories about how he meet his lovely wife and by the look on Ruby's face she was doing the same.

**_the girl said sternly. "Where is Amos?"_**

"It was my turn to try talking reason." Zia said as the others nodded.

**_Carter looked too stunned to speak._**

Sadie and some of the initiates had a hard time to hold in their snickers while Carter looked at them darkly.

**_The girl turned towards me, her golden eyes were both beautiful _****_and_****_ scary, I decided, and I didn't like her a bit._**

"I do now." Sadie said quickly while Set looked thoughtful.

"I may make a quick call tonight to Hades." she said as everyone turned to her, some with panicked eyes.

"Why?" Sadie asked slightly scarred while Anubis and Isis looked darkly at the other God who ignored them and gave the girl a small smile.

"Because of this comment, you keep implying that what had started your dislike for Zia really, no matter that it is over now, was partly because of her eyes being an amber colour reminding you of gold. You see Hades or better put his Roman side Pluto has a daughter, Hazel whose eyes are naturally the same colour as gold because she represents his second sphere of power, that as the God of Riches Below. I will only make sure that he doesn't take offence for his daughter's shake, who is really soft spoken and gentle in her nature." Set told Sadie who nodded in agreement, this sounded like a good idea, she really didn't wish to give someone the feeling whom she had not even met yet that she will dislike her because of her eyes.

Meanwhile was Zia giving a stern look to Isis who immediately turned away while Anubis dropped his head when the girl turned her gaze to him, the others had also turned back to the book feeling a bit relaxed that some unwanted misunderstanding will be cleared up before it can happen.

_**"**_**_Well?" she demanded._**

**_I didn't see why I needed to tell her a bloody thing, but an uncomfortable pressure started building in my chest, like a burp trying to get free._**

"I wanted answers and Amos had already enough trouble at that time with only being your fatgher's brother, the fact that he took you to Brooklyn House only made things worse and I was worried about him, so I used my voice of power." Zia explained while Amos gave her a little smile, both Juliuses on the other hand felt again guilty while a bit farther the two Chief Lectors exchanged a glance.

"It is alright Zia, I think we would have done the same in a reversed situation." Carter told his girlfriend while said girl's parents looked at their daughter in wonder, they didn't know that she will not only inherit her grandmother's eyes, but also be powerful like her.

**_I heard myself say, "Amos is gone. He left this morning."_**

_"_**_And the cat demon?"_**

"I'm now more then sorry for saying that, she is a wonderful person to be around." Zia said with a fond smile, as time went on in their fight to stop Apophis she started to like Bast and after she had become the Eye of Ra she started to understand why the old God was so fond of both is loyal cat and lieutenant, they were not only mare protectors to him, they were his close confidants, friends, students and children.

"Beside that, you grew up in a time when the summoning or even working together with a God was seen as a deep punishable by execution, your reaction was perfectly normal Zia." older Amos spoke up as he noted that there was still a lingering guilt in the girl, he may have been forced to live here alone, but he was allowed to visit the First Nome and there had been times when Iskander had asked him to look after the small girl he had adopted, she had in that time become to him like a second niece.

_"_**_That's _****_my_****_ cat," I said. "And she's a goddess, not a demon. She saved us from the scorpions!"_**

**_Carter unfroze._**

"Something just told me that if I stay like that longer that there would something really go wrong." Carter said in a thoughtful tone.

"I think that may have been me sensing a fight." Horus admitted, he was not sure though.

"Well, we still had our pursuers…" Sadie started to say, then Zia took over.

"…and we kind of also stood close to start a fight between each other." she admitted while looking over at the other girl.

"Then I'm glad for whatever made me unfreeze." he said, a fight between Zia and Sadie would have been not something he would have liked to see, leave alone when a swarm of scorpions was chasing them.

**_He snatched up his sword and pointed it at the girl again. Full credit for persistence, I suppose._**

"To be honest, that persistence had kind of impressed me." Zia said to her now blushing boyfriend while her father needed to nod his head grudgily, the fact that he was still trying to protect his sister even though what happened the first time spoke about a protective nature towards family.

_"_**_Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you want?"_**

"I think some of your power must have leaked over into you voice, because I had not wanted to answer." Zia admitted to her boyfriend.

_"_**_My name is Zia Rashid." She tilted her head as if listening._**

This of course made now both sets of parents stiffen in their seats, this made it cristal clear that their daughter would be now also in the book and in danger.

**_Right on cue, the entire building rumbled._**

The parents paled while their three children tried not to look at them.

**_Dust sprinkled from the ceiling, and the slithering sounds of scorpions doubled in volume behind us._**

Rachel, just like Ruby before her felt grateful for the protection on her unborn daughter who will be soon facing a betrayed and angry goddess.

_"_**_And right now," Zia continued, sounding a bit disappointed, "I must save your miserable lives. Let's go."_**

Zia wanted to groan at the way how she had said that, but the fact that the hold Carter had around her didn't change reassured her. She was really lucky that no matter what had happened Carter had never given up on her.

**_I suppose we could've refused, but our choices seemed to be Zia or the scorpions, so we ran after her._**

"So, I'm less worse then scorpions?" Zia asked Sadie with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, aberrantly getting me is less dangerous then standing near dad and uncle Amos when they have an argument." Sadie replied back at which the others broke out laughing beside four people who were blushing.

**_She passed a case full of statues and casually tapped the glass with her wand. Tiny granite pharaohs and limestone gods stirred at her command. They hopped off their pedestals and crashed through the glass. Some wielded weapons. Others simply cracked their stone knuckles. They let us pass, but stared down the corridor behind us as if waiting for the enemy._**

"They were," Zia confirmed while Iskander gave a proud nod, the young girl had much in common with her grandother Nimat who had been the Scribe of the First for many years.

_"_**_Hurry," Zia told us. "These will only—"_**

_"_**_Buy us time," I guessed. "Yeah, we've heard that before."_**

"At lest you didn't stay behind, I hate this sentence when someone does that." Carter said while most of the others nodded, it rarely meant that the person staying behind got out of that situation unharmed.

The others only exchanged uneasy glances with each other.

_"_**_You talk too much," Zia said without stopping._**

**_I was about to make a withering retort. Honestly, I would've put her in her place quite properly._**

"Do you guys think that a part of me had felt it already back then and this is why our emotions and reactions to each other were like that?" Sadie asked in a thoughtful tone as she looked at Zia, her brother, Walt and then at Isis whom all looked unsure.

"It could be possible, you had hosted me and your mother had been a diviner, it could be that you have inherited some of her sensing sensibility." Isis told her Eye while those who didn't know that Zia was the Eye of Ra only looked perplexed at them.

"I hate being so lost." Ruby whispered to her husband and brother-in-law.

**_But just then we emerged into an enormous room and my voice abandoned me._**

_"_**_Whoa," Carter said._**

**_I couldn't help agreeing with him. The place was extremely _****_whoa_****_._**

**_The room was the size of a football stadium. One wall was made completely of glass and looked out on the park. In the middle of the room, on a raised platform, an ancient building had been reconstructed. There was a freestanding stone gateway about eight meters tall, and behind that an open courtyard and square structure made of uneven sandstone blocks carved all over on the outside with images of gods and pharaohs and hieroglyphs. Flanking the building's entrance were two columns bathed in eerie light._**

Isis beamed, she loved the reconstruction of that temple, sure they were not that extremely fond of the Romans, and now will try getting along, but she admitted that they built beautiful temples to the Gods they decided to worship and she liked the attention. Set on the other hand looked annoyed at his sister when he suddenly felt Amos lean closer to her ear.

"I'm sure that her smile will not last for all to long." he told her which made her smile a little bit.

"I still can't believe that first you and later on one of my descendants gets dragged to the cult of that God." Narmer mumbled in annoyance while looking at the pair in red with a sour face, said brother only rolled his eyes while Hatshepsut gave him a sympathetic look.

_"_**_An Egyptian temple," I guessed._**

_"_**_The Temple of Dendur," Zia said._**

Isis continued to beam.

**_"Actually, it was built by the Romans—"_**

"One needs to admit that they had been good at building temples to the Gods they decided to take over from the people they had concurred..." Thoth admitted while the four from the antique looked a bit sick at the word 'conquered'.

"Yes and Annabeth could give you an architecture lesson which goes on for hours." Set said interrupting what could easily become a long lesson.

_"_**_When they occupied Egypt,"_**

Again those from the antique flinched and exchanged nervous glances.

**_Carter said, like this was delightful information. "Augustus commissioned it."_**

_"_**_Yes," Zia said._**

_"_**_Fascinating," I murmured. "Would you two like to be left alone with a history book?"_**

As said pair blushed a deep shade of red the others broke out laughing at their embarrassment.

"I think our daughter had found a young man sharing he interests." Rachel whispered to Amir who still looked a bit annoyed, but not so much as before.

"This is so cute." Ruby whispered to Julius who needed to agree, now that he got his thoughts away from the thought that his daughter is dating, could he also see the dynamic between Carter and the young woman sitting beside him.

**_Zia scowled at me. "At any rate, the temple was dedicated to Isis, so it will have enough power to open a gate."_**

_"_**_To summon more gods?" I asked._**

**_Zia's eyes flashed angrily. "Accuse me of that again, and I will cut out your tongue._**

"We already went over it Zia, you were raised to resent the Gods, it was not your fault." Carter told his girlfriend before she could say a new apology, this earned him a smile from his girlfriend's parents who appreciated his reassurance and understanding for their daughter.

**_I meant a gateway to get you out of here."_**

**_I felt completely lost, but I was getting used to that. _**

"Now things are much clearer." Sadie said grinning.

**_We followed Zia up the steps and through the temple's stone gateway._**

**_The courtyard was empty, abandoned by the fleeing museum visitors, which made it feel quite creepy. _**

Isis raised an eyebrow, her smile as Amos had predicted slipped from her face.

**_Giant carvings of gods stared down at me. Hieroglyphic inscriptions were everywhere, and I was afraid that if I concentrated too hard, I might be able to read them._**

"And I had been right." Sadie pointed out, not that it was bad now that she could read them.

**_Zia stopped at the front steps of the temple. She held up her wand and wrote in the air. A familiar hieroglyph burned between the columns._**

**_Open_****_—the same symbol Dad had used at the Rosetta Stone. _**

Desjardin's face darkened again and both Juliuses avoided his gaze.

**_I waited for something to blow up,_**

And the French magician's scowl deepened at the reminder, no matter if it had been infested by the Demon Days.

**_but the hieroglyph simply faded._**

**_Zia opened her backpack. "We'll make our stand here until the gate can be opened."_**

_"_**_Why not open it now?" Carter asked._**

_"_**_Portals can only appear at auspicious moments," Zia said. "Sunrise, sunset, midnight, eclipses, astrological alignments, the exact time of a god's birth—"_**

"Good, such remarkable knowledge by a person still so young is a remarkable deed." Iskander said with a fond smile, yes so much like Nimat had been, this was the same wisdom she had possessed.

"Thank you Master." Zia replied smiling, it had been so long ago since she had been praised by her old master.

_"_**_Oh, come on," I said. "How can you possibly know all that?"_**

"Julian." Sadie told the other before anyone could comment.

_"_**_It takes years to memorize the complete calendar," Zia said. "But the next auspicious moment is easy: high noon. Ten and a half minutes from now."_**

**_She didn't even check a watch. I wondered how she knew the time so precisely,_**

"One can learn it with patience." Ramses said as his fellow rulers nodded in agreement, this was part of the things every pharaoh needs to learn.

**_but I decided it wasn't the most important thing right now._**

The two sets of parents nodded, they can talk about these things when not in danger anymore.

_"_**_Why should we trust you?" I asked. "As I recall, at the British Museum, you wanted to gut us with a knife."_**

Zia flinched.

_"_**_That would've been simpler."_**

Rachel looked apologetically at Ruby who only shook her head that it was fine while Carter tightened his hold around Zia to reassure her, wow he was starting to understand why Amos seemed to have settled on keeping his arms permanently around Set.

**_Zia sighed. "Unfortunately, my superiors think you might be _****_innocents_****_. _**

Everyone gave a small smile to the old Chief Lector who inclined his head, something told him that this decision had some deeper meaning to it which he will soon know.

**_So for now, I can't kill you._**

"This was seven years ago." Carter said while holding Zia close, yes he was really understanding Amos's case and it will only get harder for his uncle near the end of the book.

**_But I also can't allow you to fall into the hands of the Red Lord._**

Set started pouting while Zia gave him a mocking glare, but one could say that both of them were only playing and not meaning either part, though only those of the present knew that this was because Zia having spent a good deal of time near the God most of the time due to Ra and both of them respected the other.

**_And so... you can trust me."_**

_"_**_Well, I'm convinced," I said. "I feel all warm and fuzzy inside."_**

"Sadie on the other hand is better at sarcasm." Sean said grinning as the others snickered.

**_Zia reached in her bag and took out four little statues—animal-headed men, each about five centimeters tall. She handed them to me. "Put the Sons of Horus_**

The groans from the thrones made everyone turn into their general direction, only to see a pouting and slightly scared Horus, Osiris shaking his head, Isis and Nephthys glaring at Horus while Thoth and Anubis looked outright murderous.

"We will _never _babysit again if you should have more children!" they yelled at him while Set looked amused, but Amos could see the bitterness hidden in her eyes.

"And I was thought to be an unfit parent without even having the chance to be one." she mumbled while resting her head on Amos's shoulder, she decided that it was perfectly fine like that, mostly after the other tightened his hold around her.

"I wonder what Hapi and the others did as little kids to make them react like that?" Carter whispered to the others.

"Probably much chaos." Sadie answered back, she will try to later get a sneak peek into those memories by Isis, they are bound to be amusing.

**_around us at the cardinal points."_**

_"_**_Excuse me?"_**

_"_**_North, south, east, west." She spoke slowly, as if I were an idiot._**

A good deal of people snickered at this while Sadie mumbled something about boring to death geography teachers.

_"_**_I know the compass directions! But—"_**

_"_**_That's north." Zia pointed out the wall of glass. "Figure out the rest."_**

**_I did what she asked, though I didn't see how the little men would help._**

"They serve as mediums for the magical energy needed to open the portal." Ashkender explained, he liked to spend time reading.

**_Meanwhile, Zia gave Carter a piece of chalk and told him to draw a circle around us, connecting the statues._**

The adults nodded their heads approvingly; the magical circle would keep them at least some protection against the scorpions.

_"_**_Magic protection," Carter said. "Like what Dad did at the British Museum."_**

_"_**_Yes," I grumbled. "And we saw how well _****_that_****_ worked."_**

"Well, it did a good job, but it was not the strongest version because I did not expect it to be more then one God who will come or that Set would be because of the claustrophobia inducted panic stronger then usual." older Julius spoke up, yes he should have looked things up more, there was enough evidence to indicate that the five siblings were imprisoned together.

**_Carter ignored me. What else is new? He was so eager to please Zia that he jumped right to the task of drawing his sidewalk art._**

Both mentioned magicians blushed again while the others laughed at their embarrassment before Zia glared at Julian who shuddered and continued reading before he gets set on fire.

**_Then Zia took something else from her bag—a plain wooden rod like the one our dad had used in London. She spoke a word under her breath, and the rod expanded into a two-meter-long black staff topped with a carved lion's head. She twirled it around single-handedly like a baton—just showing off, I was sure—_**

"I was trying to get a feeling to it, I rarely use the staff." Zia said, she didn't want to admit that maybe she had tried a small bit to impress Carter.

**_while holding the wand in her other hand._**

**_Carter finished the chalk circle as the first scorpions appeared at the gallery's entrance._**

_"_**_How much longer on that gate?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound as terrified as I felt._**

"Didn't work," Carter and Zia said.

_"_**_Stay inside the circle no matter what," Zia said. "When the gate opens, jump through. And keep behind me!"_**

**_She touched her wand to the chalk circle, spoke another word, and the circle began to glow dark red._**

"The colour of fire." Zia said proudly while Iskander looked thoughtful at her words, sure she could be a fire elementalist like her grandmother had been, but his instincts told him that there was more to it.

**_Hundreds of scorpions swarmed towards the temple, turning the floor into a living mass of claws and stingers. Then the woman in brown, Serqet, entered the gallery. She smiled at us coldly._**

_"_**_Zia," I said, "that's a goddess. She defeated _****_Bast_****_. What chance do _****_you_****_ have?"_**

Zia watched her parents flinch and she gave them a reassuring smile, not that it seemed to help much.

**_Zia held up her staff and the carved lion's head burst into flames—a small red fireball so bright, it lit the entire room._**

"You are a fire elementalist?" Amir asked his daughter, remembering how his mother could make fire appear in her hands on cold desert nights, his daughter only nodded her head in confirmation.

**_"I am a scribe in the House of Life, Sadie Kane. I am trained to fight gods."_**

"Sorry for the last comment." Zia said while the others looked at her with wide eyes.

"You are the Scribe of the First?" Desjardins asked the young woman, a sense of Déjà vu falling over him.

"Yes." Zia said she remembered when she got the role how the older magicians gave her these strange smiles, she never understood why.

"My mother, your grandmother had the same role before she had me and left the Nome." Amir told his daughter who looked back at him with wide eyes, she had not known this.

Carter only smiled at his girlfriend warmly, he felt happy that she was not only learning more about her parents and can spend time with them, but also learn things about the other members of her family.

"She had been a wise and strong woman who was both dearly loved and respected, the two of you have much in common with each other." Iskander said in a kind tone to the blushing young woman.

"I think she would be proud at you." Carter whispered to Zia who nodded her head as she did her best to not start crying, she did not know who decided to bring in people from the past to their reading, but she would forever be thankful to them.

"This was the end, Leonid your turn." Julian said as he passed the book over to the Russian magician who started without pause, his English had gotten better over the years though some of his Russian accent still remained, not that Cleo minded it.

**_A Jump Through the Hourglass_**

Both Kane and Rashid parents relaxed at this, the title meant that their children would get away.

**_Well, that was all very impressive, I suppose. You should've seen Carter's face—he looked like an exciting puppy._**

Carter glared at his sister, but it didn't look as convincing with the blush darkening his cheeks while the others snickered at him.

"Reminds me on Julius." younger Amos said which made his brother do the same as his son while the laughing increased.

**_[Oh, stop shoving me. You did!]_**

**_But I felt much less sure of Miss Zia "I'm-So-Magical" Rashid_**

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, Zia as said at that time we had not the best start, but I really like you now." Sadie said again when the other let out a soft laugh.

"Don't worry, I had not helped much on our situation either at that time." Zia told the other while their parents exchanged small smiles with each other.

**_when the army of scorpions scuttled towards us. I wouldn't have thought it was possible so many scorpions existed in the world, much less in Manhattan._**

"They were brought there by their Goddess." Thoth informed everyone.

**_The glowing circle round us seemed like insignificant protection against the millions of arachnids crawling over one another, many layers deep, and the woman in brown, who was even more horrible._**

"She has her good sides, she is also responsible for medicine." Jaz pointed out, as a healer was it important to know that.

**_From a distance she looked all right, _**

"I hope she never hears this." Sadie mumbled to herself.

**_but as she got closer I saw that Serqet's pale skin glistened like an insect shell. Her eyes were beady black. Her long, dark hair was unnaturally thick, as if made from a million bristling bug antennae. And when she opened her mouth, sideways mandibles snapped and retracted outside her regular human teeth._**

"She is showing more of her animal form to intimidate you." Anubis said with a raised eyebrow while the siblings nodded, that was nice to know.

**_The goddess stopped about twenty meters away, studying us. Her hateful black eyes fixed on Zia. "Give me the younglings."_**

"You have really given specific orders to get them and ignore everyone other around them till they stand in your way." younger Amos said in surprise as he looked at the God who was still in his older self's arms, he tried not to blush at the sight.

"I only wanted those two at that time, others were ignorable aspects if they went out of the way." Set replied while Narmer did again his best to ignore the look his brother was giving him.

**_Her voice was harsh and raspy, as if she hadn't spoken in centuries._**

"She didn't, she had been locked into a ring for the past centuries." Set said, she had needed almost a whole hour to get her to accept that she war really free again and not only hallucinating. True Gods don't hallucinate only if they ask a Dream God to help out, but in any other case this only happens if they are severely stressed or the worse case, close to fading. No, she would not think about that and it seemed that Amos had sensed her discomfort and she was happy for that.

The others meanwhile nodded their heads, some bowing it guiltily.

**_Zia crossed her staff and wand. "I am mistress of the elements, Scribe of the First Nome. Leave or be destroyed."_**

Zia winched, now that she was following the Path of a God and had become the Eye of the one she follows she knew that this was not what the House should do.

**_Serqet clicked her mandibles in a gruesome foamy grin. Some of her scorpions advanced, but when the first one touched the glowing lines of our protective circle, it sizzled and turned to ashes._**

"Good, the circle is working." Ramses said, the girl was good at this.

**_Mark my words, _****_nothing_****_ smells worse than burned scorpion._**

"I take that back now." Sadie said groaning.

"And you have only dealt with things on the Egyptian sides." Set told her which made her groan even more at the thought.

**_The rest of the horrible things retreated, swirling round the goddess and crawling up her legs. With a shudder, I realized they were wriggling into her robes. After a few seconds, all the scorpions had disappeared into the brown folds of her clothes._**

**_The air seemed to darken behind Serqet, as if she were casting an enormous shadow. Then the darkness rose up and took the form of a massive scorpion tail, arcing over Serqet's head. It lashed down at us at blazing speed, but Zia raised her wand and the sting glanced off the ivory tip with a hissing sound. Steam rolled off Zia's wand, smelling of sulfur._**

"The smell of fire." Zia said calmly.

**_Zia pointed her staff towards the goddess, engulfing her body in fire._**

"I apologized for that later on." she said, it had been not easy, but with Ra standing beside her it had worked.

**_Serqet screamed and staggered backwards, but the fire died almost instantly. It left Serqet's robes seared and smoking, but the goddess looked more enraged than hurt._**

"The fire reminded her on the day she had been sealed away." Set mumbled to Amos who pulled her closer in reassurance.

_"_**_Your days are past, magician. The House is weak. Lord Set will lay waste to this land."_**

"Well we like the alternative much better." Sadie said with a smile as she looked at the blushing God while the man sitting beside her smiled down at the redhead.

"With him being turned into a woman and knocked up?" Horus asked before flinching at the kick he received in the shin from his Aunt and then Anubis threw one of his boots at his head.

**_Zia threw her wand like a boomerang. It smashed into the shadowy scorpion tail and exploded in a blinding flash of light. Serqet lurched back and averted her eyes, and as she did, Zia reached into her sleeve and brought out something small—something closed inside her fist._**

**_The wand was a diversion_****_, I thought. _****_A magician's sleight of hand._**

"And now you comment." Ruby mumbled as she looked in annoyance at the Goddess who shifted under her gaze while both Sadie and Set looked amused.

**_Then Zia did something reckless:_**

The Rashids groaned while Zia gave them an innocent smile, it was hard not telling them that it was actually her shabti who did this and not her.

**_she leaped out of the magic circle—the very thing she'd warned us not to do._**

Cue more groans from the parents of said girl.

_"_**_Zia!" Carter called. "The gate!"_**

Zia smiled at the memory while leaning closer to her boyfriend, he was so considerate.

**_I glanced behind me, and my heart almost stopped. The space between the two columns at the temple's entrance was now a vertical tunnel of sand, as if I were looking into the funnel of an enormous sideways hourglass._**

"I just remembered something, most portals are using sand though the sand is mostly bound to the desert which is Set's domain of power." Cleo said suddenly as all eyes turned to the God who gave her a slight nod, but it had been Osiris who answered after taking over.

"My brother had always taken care of the safe travel of others, may it have been Lord Ra in the nights or the souls of the deceased, when the portals got established he gave permission for the usage of the sand for easier travel through places." he explained while looking over at his brother, but much to his sadness Set was avoiding looking at him, but he would take Julius's words to heart and not give up till he had his little brother back.

Anubis meanwhile looked again uncomfortable; sure he had heard some comments in the Hall of Judgement that his father tended to bring the lost souls to the Hall, but he had never paid much attention to those till now…The others looked also thoughtful, they had never heard about why the portals had sand running through them, it was kind of strange to know that it was because a God they had seen as evil, well beside older Amos who looked pleased that now the others also started to understand that there was more to the God then people liked to see it.

**_I could feel it tugging at me, pulling me towards it with magical gravity._**

"They are intended to do that, mostly if the magician close to it should be in danger." Ruby explained as she remembered reading about this, now she wondered if it also had something to do with the sand.

_"_**_I'm not going in _****_there_****_," I insisted, but another flash of light brought my attention back to Zia._**

**_She and the goddess were involved in a dangerous dance. _**

Amir had his arms around his wife, both of them looking pale at the thought of their daughter fighting a Goddess.

**_Zia twirled and spun with her fiery staff, and everywhere she passed, she left a trail of flames burning in the air. I had to admit it: Zia was almost as graceful and impressive as Bast._**

Zia blushed at the compliment, mostly after the others who knew her nodded their haeads in agrement with the comment.

**_I had the oddest desire to help. I wanted—very badly, in fact—to step outside the circle and engage in combat. It was a completely mad urge, of course. What could I possible have done? But still I felt I shouldn't—or _****_couldn't_****_—jump through the gate without helping Zia._**

Sadie carefully looked over to Isis who only shook her head sadly indicating that the will to help had been Sadie herself and not her urging.

_"_**_Sadie!" Carter grabbed me and pulled me back. Without my even realizing it, my foot had almost stepped across the line of chalk. "What are you thinking?"_**

**_I didn't have an answer, but I stared at Zia and mumbled in a sort of trance, "She's going to use ribbons. They won't work."_**

At the word _'ribbons'_ the Gods tensed slightly.

_"_**_What?" Carter demanded. "Come on, we've got to go through the gate!"_**

Amos let out a groan and much to the surprise of those from the past and to the embarrassment of his younger self pulled Set closer to himself so that she was now sitting in his lap, her head resting on his heart.

"This will take a while so Leonid, please finish the chapter and then put a levitation's charm on it and flip the chapter so that Cleo can read." he said sighing while gently stroking over the God's back.

"Amos?" Julius asked in confusion, but Leonid understood his Chief Lector's orders and started reading again.

**_Just then Zia opened her fist and small red tendrils of cloth fluttered into the air. _****_Ribbons_****_._**

There was a loud clatter from the thrones and soon only Julius was sitting on it, his face slightly pale.

"I'm sorry, continue reading I need to take care of Osiris for a while." he told the others and then his eyes closed as if he would be asleep.

"What ha…", but younger Julius stopped mid sentence when he turned to those of the present, now he finally saw where the other Gods had disappeared to.

Horus, Isis and Nephthys had turned respectively into a falcon, kite and vulture and were huddled shaking in Carter's, Sadie's and Alyssa's arms, Tawaret was in pregnant hippo form comforted by Jaz. Anubis was in his jackal form curled up whimpering in Walt's arms, he may have not been sealed away like most of the others, but there had been close and painful calls, even Cleo was busy stroking her hands through Thoth's feathers as the ibis shivered in her arms.

"They don't exactly have the most pleasant memories about those." Carter said as he stroke through Horus's feathers, it was always surreal to him to see the confident, prideful and most of the time arrogant God as a scarred bird giving out such pitiful sounds. The other magicians meanwhile looked with slight guilt at the shivering and whimpering Gods and Goddesses.

**_How had I known?_**

Sadie did not comment on this, she was busy consoling Isis, they bond clearly showing her how frightened she was because of those memories about them being locked away, how she tried to flee into the Duat to Osiris, but had been not fast enough.

**_They zipped about like living things—like eels in water—and began to grow larger._**

Set buried her face into Amos's shirt, those in bird form covered under their wings, Anubis placed his paws on his head and Tawaret pressed closer to Jaz who was helped in calming by Julian.

**_Serqet was still concentrating on the fire, trying to keep Zia from caging her. At first she didn't seem to notice the ribbons, which grew until they were several meters long. I counted five, six, seven of them in all. They zipped around as if it were a harmless illusion. Finally they wrapped around Serqet's body, pinning her arms and legs. She screamed as if the ribbons burned her._**

The four from the antique looked horrified as their Gods whimpered while their hosts flinched as they picked up on their memories.

"Yes, they were burned terribly." Carter said while Horus continued to shake in his arms which were wrapped securely around the bird of prey, the others only flinched at the sight of how the Gods react to the memory of them.

**_She dropped to her knees, and the shadow scorpion disintegrated into an inky haze._**

**_Zia spun to a stop. She pointed her staff at the goddess's face. The ribbons began to glow, and the goddess hissed in pain, cursing in a language I didn't know._**

"I'm now terribly sorry for that." Zia said while looking at her lap, she really felt sorry for hurting them like that.

_"_**_I bind you with the Seven Ribbons of Hathor," Zia said._**

"She despises that this technique bears her name." older Amos said while Set let out a new whimper and he needed to fight the urge to bring her back to their room which was updated with a second bed.

_"_**_Release your host or your essence will burn forever."_**

"Leonid, please hurry on reading." Jaz said as she looked worriedly at Tawaret, she hated seeing her friends in pain, and the Gods were her friends.

_"_**_Your _****_death_****_ will last forever!" Serqet snarled. "You have made an enemy of Set!"_**

"Well, not anymore and Set would probably confirm it, though he is kind of busy now." Julian pointed out while looking over at the God in red; she still looked pale and frightened.

**_Zia twisted her staff, and Serqet fell sideways, writhing and smoking._**

_"_**_I will... not..." the goddess hissed. But then her black eyes turned milky white, and she lay still._**

"She was in pain, but left before her host could be damaged more." older Amos said sadly, in the past years he had spent more time with the Gods then any Chief Lector had before him since the ancient times had come to pass and he was slowly starting to understand some things better.

"She left to protect her host?" Desjardins asked in disbelief.

"She had, it turned out that the woman who had hosted her did it out of her free will, she had been the curator of the museum where the artefact containing her had been placed and she had a fondness for her." Amos explained what he had heard from Set and later on from Serqet who had inquired about how the young woman was.

"I can also confirm that now." Zia said who had been after her apologizing asked by the Goddess to check on the woman who as it turned out was still working in the same museum, she had confirmed that she had freely become a host and knew about the dangers.

"This is certainly surprising." Ruby said while older Amos gave her a small smile before looking down at the God he was holding.

"Sometimes they tend to surprise us." he said while remembering how even if hurt and weakened Set had still tried to have a protective shield around him.

_"_**_The gate!" Carter warned. "Zia, come on! I think it's closing!"_**

Zia gave her boyfriend a thankful smile.

**_He was right. The tunnel of sand seemed to be moving a bit more slowly. The tug of its magic did not feel as strong._**

**_Zia approached the fallen goddess. She touched Serqet's forehead, and black smoke billowed from the goddess's mouth. _**

"The rest of her essence." Ruby noted, but she was still looking worriedly at the Gods.

**_Serqet transformed and shrank until we were looking at a completely different woman wrapped in red ribbons. She had pale skin and black hair, but otherwise she didn't look anything like Serqet. She looked, well, _****_human_****_._**

No one commented on this, most of them only wanted this chapter to end, hearing Gods being frightened was not something they were used to, or felt comfortable to be around.

_"_**_Who is that?" I asked._**

_"_**_The host," Zia said. "Some poor mortal who—"_**

"…had been willing and in full knowledge of the consequences." Zia corrected her past self in a sad tone.

**_She looked up with a start. The black haze was no longer dissipating. It was getting thicker and darker again, swirling into a more solid form._**

_"_**_Impossible," Zia said. "The ribbons are too powerful. Serqet _****_can't_****_ re-form unless—"_**

"Partly because the host had been willing and partly because something you will find out later." Carter said to their again nervous parents.

_"_**_Well, she _****_is_****_ re-forming!" Carter yelled, "and our exit is closing! Let's go!"_**

**_I couldn't believe he was willing to jump into a churning wall of sand,_**

"Now I prefer that type of travel." Sadie said while stroking soothingly across Isis's back.

**_but as I watched the black cloud take the shape of a two-story-tall scorpion—a very _****_angry_****_ scorpion—I made my decision._**

"A good motivator." Julius said while glancing at his older self who still had his eyes closed, probably still trying to calm down Osiris.

_"_**_Coming!" I yelled._**

_"_**_Zia!" Carter yelled. "Now!"_**

_"_**_Perhaps you're right," the magician decided. She turned, and together we ran and plunged straight into the swirling vortex._**

"Your turn Cleo." Leonid told his girlfriend before putting a floating charm on the book so that she doesn't need to try setting Thoth down who looked not in shape to be separated from his follower.

"Carter, really?" Cleo asked, she was getting the chapter with this title while holding a God in bird form in her lap.

**_I Face the Killer Turkey_**

A good deal of unbelieving gazes turned from the book to Carter while both Zia and Sadie had small smiles on their lips.

_To be continued…_


	12. First a turkey, then channelling your

A/N: so here is a new double issue chapter seeing how this seems to make things go a bit faster, other news seeing how I'm not exactly getting any comments for this fic and my Percy Jackson reading fic also seems to be ignored in that department since I did a new update I come to the conclusion that I will continue those three fics after getting at least ten more reviews for both of them. Till then I will busy myself with my older fics.

* * *

XII. First a turkey, then channelling your father

"I don't remember any Egyptian creature that looks like a turkey." Ruby said while looking at both her husband and brother-in-law, both of them only shrugged, they were also kind of lost.

"If I counted right this will be in Carter's point of view so this title is the work of his fantasy." Desjardins stated while he tried to keep his gaze from travelling to Amos, it still unnerved him how close of a bond the man seemed to have with the Red Lord, he did not know how that happened with the God being the enemy in this book.

"You will soon know." Carter said, his hands still on Horus's feathers, he hoped that this chapter will calm the other down.

"Cleo, could you please." Zia called to the girl who nodded her head and started reading.

**_[My turn]_**

**_First of all, Sadie's "puppy dog" comment was totally out of line. I was _****_not_****_ starry-eyed about Zia._**

Zia looked at her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow as he blushed and did his best to avoid everyone's' gazes.

**_It's just that I don't meet a lot of people who can throw fireballs and battle gods._**

"Sure Carter." replied the initiates and Sadie as Zia giggled in amusement, she really could not help her reaction.

"It is adorable to hear about how the children experience their first crush, which seems to be a lasting one." Ruby whispered to Rachel as she leaned over her husband to get closer to the other woman.

"I'm glad that my daughter will find a good young man to be with, this is what most mothers wish for their daughters." Rachel replied back and this was the truth, what she saw and heard till now about Carter showed him as a caring, hard working and intelligent young man and those were qualities she appreciated in a man.

**_[Stop making faces at me, Sadie. You look like Khufu.]_**

There were some laughs about this, but the Gods were still not moving from their hosts laps, but at least their whimpering had ceased though the shivers were still strong.

**_Anyway, we plunged into the sand tunnel._**

**_Everything went dark. My stomach tingled with that top-of-the-roller-coaster weightlessness as I hurtled forward. Hot winds whipped around me, and my skin burned._**

"So, this is what others feel when going through a portal?" Zia asked curiously while looking over at her boyfriend and Sadie.

"You didn't feel like them?" Ruby asked curiously while Amir remembered how his mother could with her free hand reach into burning fire and not be harmed by it.

"As a fire user I don't have trouble with the heat." Zia explained as Sadie remembered how little trouble the other woman had to go inside the sea of lava by the Sunny Acres and didn't get burned to death. Also now that they knew that Zia's grandmother had been part of the House of Life meant that she was also from the blood of the pharaohs and this is why she could host Ra.

"At least we now also know why people have that feeling when using the portals, seeing that Set is partly associated with fire." Julius said before glancing at his older self and his family who were still busy taking care about the Gods who still were going through a post-traumatic reaction.

**_Then I tumbled out onto a cold tile floor, and Sadie and Zia crashed on top of me._**

"I know that people see it as a courtesy when a guy lets a girl go through a door first, but by portals is it better if the guy goes first." Sadie said grinning.

"It certainly guarantees a soft landing." Zia agreed as she also smiled.

"So glad that I could be of use." Carter replied sarcastically as some of the others laughed at him.

"Know how you feel son, but at least you got two girls on you." Julius grumbled as Amos snickered with Ruby and Desjardins was smirking at the magician.

"If you put it like that." Carter said while looking at the four adults, Zia and Sadie were probably more lighter to have landing on you then the others, not that his mum was fat, but having three people crash on you must have hurt worse then in his case.

"Looks like as if landing in strange situations is also a family trait." Walt whispered to Sadie who nodded her head, it was fun to know these facts about her family.

_"_**_Ow_****_!" I grumbled._**

"Understandable." Julius said looking darkly at the other three who still looked amused, that had been not fun to land at the bottom of the pile.

**_The fist thing I noticed was the fine layer of sand covering my body like powdered sugar._**

There was a soft snicker from Set as she slightly raised her head to look at Carter.

"Thi…this was the…first time someone ma…made that comparison." she said in a slightly shaking tone as Carter also gave a soft laugh.

"I still don't know from where that had come from." he admitted, at least seemed Set to be getting calmer, so the others will also be fine as they continue with the chapter.

"Though I need to agree about the fact, that fine sand can really feel like powdered sugar." Ruby said after calming herself somewhat down from her amusement.

**_Then my eyes adjusted to the harsh light. We were in a big building like a shopping mall, with crowds bustling around us._**

**_No... not a mall. It was a two-level airport concourse, with shops, lots of windows, and polished steel columns._**

"I admit that I felt kind of confused at that time about the place we have landed." Carter said with a laugh.

"You tell me, the only airport I had been at beside when I got brought to London had been on a field trip." Sadie said, at that time was she kind of baffled, but she had also felt strangely at home, figure with her being form an Egyptian royal line and hosting a Goddess from that land.

**_Outside, it was dark, so I knew we must be in a different time zone. Announcements echoed over the intercom in a language that sounded like Arabic._**

"I was still slightly shaken." Carter said when everyone who knew where they had probably gone raised their eyebrows at him.

**_Sadie spit sand out of her mouth. "Yuck!"_**

"I learned to never again open my mouth when using one of those." Sadie grumbled as the others snickered.

_"_**_Come on," Zia said. "We can't stay here."_**

**_I struggled to my feet. People were streaming past—some in Western clothes, some in robes and headscarves. A family arguing in German rushed by and almost ran over me with their suitcases._**

There were some snickers at this, someone who was dragged to so many travels should have better reflexes then that when it comes to sidestep rabid suitcases.

**_Then I turned and saw something I recognized. In the middle of the concourse stood a life-size replica of an Ancient Egyptian boat made from glowing displays cases—a sales counter for perfume and jewelry._**

"What?" the four from the antique stared weirdly at the book, at least some improvement then keeping their worried gazes on the Gods.

"Well, some of the Egyptian constructions as you had heard are still used and some symbols are pretty popular." Walt explained to them.

_"_**_This is the Cairo airport," I said._**

_"_**_Yes," Zia said. "Now, let's go!"_**

_"_**_Why the rush? Can Serqet... can she follow us through that sand gate?"_**

"Not through the gate, but she could have used her way through the Duat." Cleo explained before continuing with the reading.

**_Zia shook her head. "An artifact overheats whenever it creates a gate. It requires a twelve-hour cooldown before it can be used again. _**

"Which in some situations is pretty useful." Sadie said while her parents exchanged nervous glances, they somehow noticed the implication.

"At least you will soon get to safety." Amir said, he knew that the First Nome was secured and no God could enter it according to his mother's words, though now looking at how the Gods had fled to the present magicians when remembering painful and traumatic memories, something told him that the rule was not in charge anymore.

**_But we still have to worry about airport security. Unless you'd like to meet the Egyptian police, you'll come with me _****_now_****_."_**

**_She grabbed our arms_**

"For someone who seemed so much against them you were really dedicated to protect them beside our orders." Desjardins noted.

"I think a part of me felt that they were the ones who were in the right, but I suppressed it." Zia answered to the older magician, she kind of also felt good to see him also, he had been kind of much nicer to her then he was with most others.

**_and steered us through the crowd. We must've looked like beggars in our old-fashioned clothes, covered head-to-toe in sand. People gave us a wide berth, but nobody tried to stop us._**

"This is the only case where I agree with that attitude." Ruby huffed.

_"_**_Why are we here?" Sadie demanded._**

_"_**_To see the ruins of Heliopolis," Zia said._**

"Ruins…" Ramses asked faintly, the others from the antique looked just as pale and horrified as him, they had all thought that the city would stand proud till the end of time.

"Lost, just like the one who had guarded it." Set whispered painfully as Amos tightened his hold around her.

"Though the city will flourish again, hidden from mortal eyes now that her guardian deity had returned and the ancient bonds are tied together like they should be and had once been." he whispered gently to her while brushing a stray lock of red hair form her face. He felt the God nod his head which was still resting on his chest, signalling to him that she listened to his words.

_"_**_Inside an _****_airport_****_?" Sadie asked._**

**_I remembered something Dad had told me years ago, and my scalp tingled._**

_"_**_Sadie, the ruins are _****_under_****_ us." I looked at Zia. "That's right, isn't it?"_**

At the strange sounds everyone looked to the four ancient royals.

"I…ignore us…please con…continue." Hatshepsut said in a faint, shaking tone, she could not wrap her mind around the fact that their people let something like this happen.

"We will be reading one more chapter, after that we will have dinner and then go to bed." older Amos told the group, most had gone here through enough emotional stress for tonight and he could already see the moon waxing outside as slowly the stars took up their places on the sky.

The others nodded in agreement to the idea, they had three pregnant people present who needed to eat and rest more then them, but seeing how tiring some of these chapters were others also felt the tiredness creeping upon them.

**_She nodded. "The ancient city was pillaged centuries ago._**

Everyone tried to ignore the outraged or chocking sounds coming from those from the far past, as often before they understood that this must be extremely hard on them.

**_Some of its monuments were carted away, like Cleopatra's two needles. Most of its temples were broken down to make new buildings._**

More outraged sounds and growling.

**_What was left disappeared under Cairo's suburbs. The largest section is under this airport."_**

"The city of the sun hidden in darkness." Ashkender whispered as he looked over at Set whose stiffness told him that the God was just as angry as them.

_"_**_And how does that help us?" Sadie asked._**

**_Zia kicked open a maintenance door. On the other side was a broom closet._**

"In the mortal world people would be whistling at this." Jaz said giggling while stroking Tawaret's head.

"So true, mostly the immature and hormonal teenagers." Ruby agreed while her father looked confused what the three want in an airport's broom closet.

**_Zia muttered a command—"_****_Sahad_****_"—and the image of the closet shimmered and disappeared, revealing a set of stone steps leading down._**

Forget that he had even wondered.

_"_**_Because not _****_all_****_ Heliopolis is in ruins," Zia said. "Follow closely. And _****_touch nothing_****_."_**

**_The stairs must've led down about seven million miles,_**

"It is actually seven and half million miles only." Iskander said to the younger magicians who nodded their heads that they understood.

**_because we descended _****_forever_****_. The passage had been made for miniature people, too. We had to crouch and crawl most of the way, and even so, I bonked my head on the ceiling a dozen times._**

"That tunnel is manmade and was hastily carved in the time of the Napolean expeditions." Desjardins explained, the older tunnels were much wider.

**_The only light was from a ball of fire in Zia's palm, which made shadows dance across the wall._**

Amir was again remembered on his childhood with his mother.

**_I'd been in places like this before—tunnels inside pyramids, tombs my dad had excavated_**

No one looked to those from the antique, their heavy breathing as they tried to calm down was enough to know how they were feeling.

**—****_but I've never liked them. Millions of tons of rock above me seemed to crush the air out of my lungs._**

"_You don't like them because of me, all magicians following a certain God's Path have some similarity to them, my domain is in the air and not under the earth." _Carter heard Horus speak in his head.

"_I know Horus, do you feel better now?" _he asked the God in a gentle tone, no matter how annoying the other could be, Carter still cared about him.

**"****_I still need a few minutes, but I'm somewhat better though sleep sounds good." _****Carter nodded his head that was good to hear. **

**_Finally we reached the bottom. The tunnel opened up, and Zia stopped abruptly. After my eyes adjusted, I saw why. We were standing at the edge of a chasm._**

**_A single wooden plank spanned the void. On the opposite ledge, two jackal-headed granite warriors_****_flanked a doorway, their spears crossed over the entrance._**

Anubis slightly raised his head at hearing about his statues at the old entrance, his tail shifted to the side, he was also starting to slowly calm down.

**_Sadie sighed. "Please, no more psychotic statues."_**

"Sorry." Sadie told Anubis when the black jackal looked up at her with his head tipped to the side, ears pulled back and tipped in the same direction like his head. _'I see what uncle Amos meant that they can pull of the kicked-puppy look pretty well in that form, ugh…the baby will be dangerous to say 'no' to.'_

"And to think that she had a crush and dated for a while the God about whom those statues were designed about." Zia whispered to Carter who bit back a snicker, which was so true.

_"_**_Do not joke," Zia warmed. "This is an entrance to the First Nome, the oldest branch of the House of Life, headquarters for all magicians._**

The magicians nodded their heads that was certainly true and seven years ago they understood just how important the First is.

**_My job was to bring you here safely, but I cannot help you cross. Each magician must unbar the path for herself, and the challenge is different for each supplicant."_**

There were several nods again while Mr. Faust stared unbelievingly at his wife, that sounded like suicide to him.

**_She looked at Sadie expectantly, which annoyed me._**

"I was mostly doing that because I was more sure about whom she had and a part of me seemed to also feel that." Zia told Carter before leaning closer to his ear _"_Don't forget, Isis had betrayed Ra much more then Horus did at that time."she whispered to the other.

"You again mentioned something like this, Zia are you by any chance also a host?" Ruby asked thoughtfully while both Amir and Rachel tensed.

"Yes, I'm the Eye of a God, but I wont tell you who it is, also before finding my original Path I accidentally got in contact with another one." she said when her mother spoke up, her face ashen.

"Nephthys who usually resides in the Nile which is important for our people, it is tradition in my family to give each daughter an amulet with her symbol as a protection and blessing." Rachel said as she looked worriedly at her daughter, so did the other visitors, a fire user and a Water Goddess were not a good combination.

"Yes, but steps were taken so that neither of us gets hurt." Zia reassured her family.

"You also mentioned two or so chapters ago that Nephthys was in a way put out of motion." Julius noted as he looked both at the young woman and the Goddess.

"You will understand better in the second book." Sadie told her father.

"If we already mentioned it, what are the titles of the other two books seeing how we kind of already went over the titles of most of the books by the demigods." younger Amos said as he looked at those from the present.

"The titles of our other books are a bit more spoiler like so sorry, you will need to wait till we finish all forty-one chapters and we will finish today with chapter fourteen." Walt told them.

"Which means that we have still twenty-seven chapters to go before starting the second book." Shelby added in feeling amused that some of the adults looked as if they wanted to groan.

"I will continue now." Cleo said as Leonid flipped to the next page seeing how his girlfriend still had Thoth in her lap.

**_First Bast, now Zia—both of them treated Sadie like she should have some kind of superpowers. I mean, okay, so she'd been able to blast the library doors apart, but why didn't anyone look at _****_me_****_ to do cool tricks?_**

"No one comments, I got some answers now and as shocking it is also the God who annoys a good deal of others with his ego, but it seems that Isis even tops that." Carter replied grinning as Isis glared at him and then at a laughing Set, which is not exactly effective if you are a bird at it was not as if Set had ever feared her.

**_Plus, I was still annoyed with Sadie for the comments she'd made at the museum in New York—how I had it so good traveling the world with Dad._**

"Ugh…dad again, please don't take this to heart I was a teenager who found himself suddenly thrown into a world I could not imagine existed." Carter told his father hurriedly, though it seemed that the older version was still to busy with Osiris to notice anything which was good.

"I will try Carter." younger Julius said, it seemed that he really made some mistakes which even if they get solved and forgiven will still be needed to be faced by him during these readings, so that he doesn't repeat them. When he found out that Ruby was pregnant he felt ecstatic about the prospect of a child and he wanted to be the best father he could be, but it seemed that his plans didn't work out.

**_She had no idea how often I wanted to complain about the constant traveling, how many days I wished I didn't have to get on a plane and could just be like a normal kid going to school and making friends. _**

Julius flinched while Zia leaned against her boyfriend and Sadie looked sadly at her brother, she needed to mature more to understand that Carter never had it better then her, both of them seemed to have had what the other wished for, like two halves of a medal. Wasn't is strange how balance seemed to be everywhere all around them?

"Now you have friends and could go to school." Zia whispered to Carter.

**_But I couldn't complain. "_****_You always have to look impeccable",_****_ Dad had told me._**

Julius wanted to groan; by that sentence he was sure that he didn't mean that Carter could never tell him if he was unhappy because of something.

**_And he didn't just mean my clothes. He meant my attitude. With Mom gone, I was all he had. Dad needed me to be strong. Most days, I didn't mind. I loved my dad. But it was also hard._**

Ruby took her husband's hand into her own, she saw that hearing this was hard on him and true a small part of her was angry at Julius for putting so much pressure on such a young child, but another side also knew why that happened. The others were also feeling uncomfortable that they were again privy on something as private as this, but that is not possible to avoid if you read something which was written in another person's point of view, there are bound to be private thoughts in the pages.

**_Sadie didn't understand that. _****_She_****_ had it easy. And now she seemed to be getting all the attention, as if _****_she_****_ were the special one. It wasn't fair._**

**_Then I heard Dad's voice in my head: "Fairness means everyone gets what they need. And the only way to get what you need is to make it happen yourself."_**

"Tche… that is a nice sentence, but it not always applies in our world." Set spoke up bitterly and she knew that Hades, Prometheus and most of the demigods would agree on that and she gave voice to just that. "You will see that when we read about the things the demigods had gone through and when the time for the passing of the next Great Prophecy comes will go through again with our own children."

Julius did not comment, he wanted to, though before he could he saw the older counterpart of his brother looking at him, somehow his eyes told him that he would loose the argument, but he didn't think that this would happen, but stayed quiet.

**_I don't know what got into me, but I drew my sword and marched across the plank._**

"Now I know that it was the bird and it was already in me." Carter said to lift the mood; Horus only looked up at him and let out an indignant sound which made some chuckle as Carter had hoped.

**_It was like my legs were working by themselves, not waiting for my brain. Part of me thought: _****_This is a really bad idea._**

"That was me." Carter told everyone.

**_But part of me answered: _****_No, we do not fear this._**

"And that was the bird." some snickered at this while Horus proved to them that a bird could look offended.

**_And the voice didn't sound like mine._**

Horus still glared at Carter who was grinning back at him, yup the God was starting to get over his trauma and be his annoying old self again.

_"_**_Carter!" Sadie cried._**

"I had no clue at that time what had gotten into him and somehow knew that going was not happening out of his decision." Sadie explained, at that time she felt worried for her brother, she feared that he might fall and she would loose the last family she had.

**_I kept walking. I tried not to look down at the yawning void under my feet, but the sheer size of the chasm made me dizzy. I felt like one of those gyroscope toys, spinning and wobbling as I crossed the narrow plank._**

"I would have hit you if you would have dared to pull such a stunt on that, it was already frightening enough with you just walking along that plank." Sadie told her brother, she didn't need at that time more ground to be close to a heart attack.

"And I would have done the same young man." Ruby stated to both her present son and unborn baby.

"I doubt Horus would ever dare to do ballet." Set said in amusement as the falcon let out an angered shriek as the woman in red continued to grin at him.

"That is a horrifying thought." Carter said shuddering as he imagined Horus in a ballet outfit dancing while said God was continuing to shriek and flap his wings before he flew a bit away and took up his human form after realizing that he looked like an idiot.

"I would _never _do a ballet, I hate that!" the King of Gods yelled, his face flushed while the others broke out laughing which lasted for five minutes after which the Gods one by one took up their humanoid forms and returned to their thrones, or in Osiris's case Julius opened his eyes and Set slid down from Amos's lap, though she slightly hesitated while doing so which was noticed by Tawaret.

**_As I got closer to the opposite side, the doorway between the two statues began to glow, like a curtain of red light._**

Anubis looked confused, why would that colour be close to his statues while some of the others looked at either of the Chief Lectors for answers, some even at Thoth.

"The colour depends on who is coming and whom they worshipped the most, if it is the person I think it is then the colour was to represent fire." older Amos explained after guessing why they were looking at them.

"Ah, that really explains it, when I got there the light was sky-blue." Ruby said while her father paled at the image of his daughter standing on a small plank above gapping darkness.

**_I took a deep breath. Maybe the red light was a portal, like the gate of sand. If I charged through fast enough..._**

**_Then the first dagger shot out of the tunnel._**

"A DAGGER?" Mr. Faust yelled in horror, his daughter had stood on that thing while daggers were shoot at her!?

"Dad, as Zia said everyone gets something different." Ruby reassured her father, no need to tell him about the windblasts, but first she needed to talk with her son. "Were you hurt?" she asked worriedly.

"Mom, you will see easily what happened if Cleo continues." Carter told his mother who blushed, remembering that this was written in her son's point of view.

**_My sword was in motion before I realized it. The dagger should've impaled me in the chest,_**

Ruby paled.

**_but somehow I deflected it with my blade and sent it sailing into the abyss._**

Ruby stood up from her seat, marched over to Horus and hugged the flushed God and returned to her seat beside Julius.

**_Two more daggers shot out of the tunnel. I'd never had the best reflexes, but now they sped up. I ducked one dagger and hooked the other with the curved blade of my sword, turned the dagger and flung it back into the tunnel. _****_How the heck did I do that?_**

"Now I know how it happened." Carter replied calmly as he looked over at Horus who was slowly loosing the blush on his face.

**_I advanced to the end of the plank and slashed through the red light, which flickered and died. I waited for the statues to come alive, but nothing happened. The only sound was a dagger clattering against the rocks in the chasm far below._**

**_The doorway began to glow again. The red light coalesced into a strange form: a five-foot-tall bird with a man's head._**

Mr. Faust shook his head; he could only hope to never see something like that in person.

**_I raised my sword, but Zia yelled, "Carter, no!"_**

"Sorry, I think that was still me and I kind of knew who he was." Horus admitted sheepishly while Carter shook his head, he had thought 'monster' or that it was because of the adrenalin, nice to know the actual truth.

"You should still not attack a ba." Ruby said in a scolding tone.

**_The bird creature folded his wings. His eyes, lined with kohl, narrowed as they studied me. A black ornamental wig glistened on his head, and his face was etched with wrinkles. One of those fake braided pharaoh beards was stuck on his chin like a backward ponytail. He didn't look hostile, except for the red flickering light all around him, and the fact that from the neck down he was the world's largest killer turkey._**

There were some snorts at this and Set was sure that this sentence would send the ADHD demigods into hysterical laughing fits later on when they get the books.

"He would certainly feel offended by this." Zia told her boyfriend who at least blushed in embarrassment.

**_Then a chilling thought occurred to me: This was a bird with a human head, the same form I'd imagined taking when I slept in Amos's house, when my soul left my body and flew to Phoenix. I had no idea what that meant, but it scared me._**

"Now I'm used to them and he is more then a good conversation partner." Carter said with a shrug of his shoulder.

**_The bird creature scratched at the stone floor. Then, unexpectedly, he smiled._**

Cleo also smiled as did the others knowing what sentence would fall next, those words had carried a deep truth in them regards the future.

"**_Pari, niswa nafeer_****,"**

Everyone from the past sat up suddenly straighter in their seats, their eyes turning towards Carter, but no one had a chance to ask because Cleo continued, she certainly was curious how they will react when they find out that Carter is the new Pharaoh of the Per-Ankh.

**_he told me, or at least that's what it sounded like._**

**_Zia gasped. She and Sadie were standing behind me now, their faces pale._**

The visitors could understand that perfectly, the implication of those words…it was, it hadn't been since decades...

**_Apparently they'd managed to cross the chasm without my noticing._**

**_Finally Zia seemed to collect herself. She bowed to the bird creature. Sadie followed her example._**

**_The creature winked at me, as if we'd just shared a joke._**

A few people bit back snickers at this while Amos used his link with Set to tell her about a conversation he had last month with that peculiar ba.

"_I had last month a talk with him and he told me that he was sure even in the past when meeting Carter that not only the new king had finally come back to the First Nome, but also finally approached the new queen." _he told the God who gave a soft smile at this.

"_Ra is since a while waiting for him to ask, his blessing is already with them and neither Bast nor me would hesitate to give our own." _Set answered back, she liked Zia because she had been the key to return the one she saw as her true parent back and the time they had spent together had made them also become closer and well Carter certainly got her respect, mostly that he didn't let himself be swayed over by Horus's immense ego.

"_That is good to hear that you would also give them your blessing." _he told the God who looked a bit uncomfortable. _"What is wrong?" _

"_It is just that, well… not many people like the fact if I give them my blessing." _she admitted reluctantly at which Amos gently took one of her hands into this.

"_They both like you so it will be fine Set." _he told the God, sometimes he felt really annoyed how the other was made insecure about the way people saw him and with the pregnancy going on was it even more noticeable. The two of them will need to talk tonight before going to bed; he can talk with Tawaret regards the progression of the pregnancy tomorrow.

**_Then he vanished. The red light faded. The statues retracted their arms, uncrossing their spears from the entrance._**

_"_**_That's it?" I asked. "What did the turkey say?"_**

**_Zia looked at me with something like fear. _**

"I was kind of still in shock from the comment." Zia admitted while gesturing to Cleo to continue before anyone could ask about the deeper meaning of the comment.

**_"That was _****_not_****_ a turkey, Carter. That was a _****_ba_****_."_**

"I still don't know how that comparison happened." younger Amos mumbled to himself while looking at his nephew, something regards the ba's comment sounded much more then a greeting.

**_I'd heard my dad use that word before, but I couldn't place it. "Another monster?"_**

"Uh…you really rarely mentioned about the ba so I had a harder time to remember." Carter explained himself when both versions of their father looked at him perplexed.

_"_**_A human soul," Zia said. "In this case, a spirit of the dead. A magician from ancient times, come back to serve as a guardian. They watch the entrances of the House."_**

The four from the antique exchanged glances with each other, at least some of the past will guard the new generation and give them guidance.

**_She studied my face as if I'd just developed some terrible rash._**

"It was more like, I was trying to see what he had meant when he greeted you." Zia whispered to her blushing boyfriend.

_"_**_What?" I demanded. "Why are you looking at me that way?"_**

_"_**_Nothing," she said. "We must hurry."_**

Both Ruby and Rachel caught on and shared a small smile with each other.

**_She squeezed by me on the ledge and disappeared into the tunnel._**

**_Sadie was staring at me too._**

_"_**_All right," I said. "What did the bird guy say? You understood it?"_**

**_She nodded uneasily. "He mistook you for someone else. He must have bad eyesight."_**

All those from the present bit down on their tongues to not start snickering while their visitors were looking at them questioningly, they wanted answers, but the others didn't look as if they would give it to them.

_"_**_Because?"_**

_"_**_Because he said, 'Go forth, good king.'"_**

Again everyone bit their tongues, but they knew that the questions need to be diverted, luckily seemed Anubis to have come up with an idea to divert the past people's attention for a while.

"He noticed Horus's presence in Carter and most of the bas of the past magicians from really far back like him still respected the Gods and the old ways." he said in a nonchalant tone while the others did their best to look as if this would not be news for them.

"The only one for a good while to recogrinaise me." Horus said sighing as the visitors turned to him.

"So this is what the comment was about?" Ruby asked the God who nodded his head with the others.

"Ah." some answered while Cleo decided that she should continue before someone realizes that they had used a trick on them to divert their attention from the truth.

**_I was in a daze after that._**

"Understandable." Walt mumbled to himself.

**_We passed through the tunnel and entered a vast underground city of halls and chambers, but I only remember bits and pieces of it._**

**_The ceilings soared to twenty or thirty feet, so it didn't feel like we were underground. Every chamber was lined with massive stone columns like the ones I'd seen in Egyptian ruins, but these were in perfect condition, brightly painted to resemble palm trees, with carved green fronds at the top, so I felt like I was walking through a petrified forest. Fires burned in copper braziers. They didn't seem to make any smoke, but the air smelled good, like a marketplace for spices—cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and others I couldn't identify. _**

Cleo suddenly started giggling before she continued.

**_The city smelled like Zia._**

The pair blushed again at this while their mothers smiled at them, young love was really adorable, the others did their best not to snicker at the duo.

**_I realized that this was her home._**

"I would like to correct that sentence now, it is _our_ home." Carter said with a smile on his lips which the others returned.

**_We saw a few other people—mostly older men and women. Some wore linen robes, some modern clothes. One guy in a business suit walked past with a black leopard on a leash, as if that were completely normal._**

"Some of my brothers prefer lions or cheetahs more." Ramses spoke up, at least in the Nome seemed things to be a bit like they knew it.

**_Another guy barked orders to a small army of brooms, mops, and buckets that were scuttling around, cleaning up the city._**

_"_**_Like that cartoon," Sadie said. "Where Mickey Mouse tries to do magic and the brooms keep splitting and toting water."_**

_"'_**_The Sorcerer's Apprentice,'" Zia said. "You do know that was based on an Egyptian story, don't you?"_**

"It was one of my favourite stories." Amir admitted, he had on some nights made his mother tell it to him at least twice before falling asleep.

"Mine to." Zia told her father, happy about the similarity.

**_Sadie just stared back. I knew how she felt. It was too much to process._**

**_We walked through a hall of jackal-headed statues,_**

"I always wondered, why is the God of Death and Funerals placed on a path leading into the Nome?" Jaz asked before adding "No offence Anubis."

"It is fine, they are partly there since the city had been built and you remember that usually I'm the one making sure that rites get done properly so that the soul can descend to the other side and also the one judging the heart. My statues are there to eliminate those whose hearts are filled with evil." Anubis said when Narmer turned to the two in red and looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"To your great disappointment those statues are not damaged in any way and I can freely move around the First and now that the Gods are allowed back in has Set also no problems with entering." Amos told the pharaoh smirking at which the other only scowled much to Ashkender's amusement.

"You certainly seem to be amused by annoying your ancestor." Ruby whispered to Amos who also noticed this pattern, beside his protectiveness regards the God.

**_and I could swear their eyes watched us as we passed. A few minutes later, Zia led us through an open-air market—if you can call anything "open-air" underground—_**

**"**That was a bad pun Carter." Julian told the other.

"I was only making a statement." he said.

**_with dozens of stalls selling weird items like boomerang wands, animated clay dolls, parrots, cobras, papyrus scrolls, and hundreds of different glittering amulets._**

Those of the adults who had gotten their amulets form one of those stalls gently touched them.

**_Next we crossed a path of stones over a dark river teeming with fish. I thought they were perch until I saw their vicious teeth._**

_"_**_Are those piranhas?" I asked._**

_"_**_Tiger fish from the Nile," Zia said. "Like piranhas, except these can weigh up to sixteen pounds."_**

"I think Percy would love to meet them." Set said at which beside Amos everyone stared at him wide eyed.

"What, meeting sixteen pound Egyptian piranhas?" asked a shocked Sadie.

"That young man is playing fetch with white sharks and pets them as if they would be dogs, so any questions?" Set asked the gaping magicians.

"Who is his godly parent gain?" Thoth asked remembering that he is the demigod whose adventures they will mainly read about.

"Poseidon, God of the Seas, Earthquakes, Storms and Creator of Horses." the God replied while the others nodded.

"That would explain it." Julian replied blinking, demigods sounded really interesting and in a few months they will have one in their midst.

**_I watched my step more closely after that._**

**_We turned a corner and passed an ornate building carved out of black rock. Seated pharaohs were chiseled into the walls, and the doorway was shaped like coiled serpent._**

"At least they represent Wadjet and not that _thing_." Amos whispered darkly, he would never forgive that snake as long as he exists, Set smiled at him in agreement.

_"_**_What's in there?" Sadie asked._**

**_We peeked inside and saw rows of children—maybe two dozen in all, about six to ten years old or so—sitting cross-legged on cushions. They were hunched over brass bowls, peering intently into some sort of liquid and speaking under their breath. At first I thought it was a classroom, but there was no sign of a teacher, and the chamber was lit only by a few candles. Judging by the number of empty seats, the room was meant to hold twice as many kids._**

"The numbers are now closer to that what they should be." older Amos said at which the visitors from the House looked at them hopefully, the thought of more magicians returning to claim their birthright and bringing their children with them was a more then great news to them..

"That is truly a blessing to hear." Iskander said, it felt as if a large boulder would have been lifted from his shoulders after hearing these words, the fear that the House would vanish cleared like fog through the rays of the sun. Now he saw it clearly, the future of the Per-Ankh truly lied with the Gods they had once betrayed and turned their backs to.

_"_**_Our initiates," Zia said, "learning to scry. The First Nome must keep in contact with our brethren all over the world. We use our youngest as... operators, I suppose you would say."_**

_"_**_So you've got bases like this all over the world?"_**

_"_**_Most are much smaller, but yes."_**

"True, not that one can call most Nomes small, but compared to the First they certainly are." Alyssa said with a shrug.

**_I remembered what Amos had told us about the nomes. "Egypt is the First Nome. New York is the Twenty-first. What's the last one, the Three-hundred-and-sixtieth?"_**

_"_**_That would be Antarctica,"_**

Felix had a grin on his lips, he loved the cold and had once visited that Nome to see if everything was alright, strangely he seemed to be the only one who had fun there.

**_Zia said. "A punishment assignment. Nothing there but a couple of cold magicians and some magic penguins."_**

"Saddly it does not work on some of them to let them understand their faults." Carter said bitterly as the others from their time bowed their heads, so many innocent deaths.

"What happened?" Ruby asked in worry.

"The two other books will tell you." Shelby told the group.

_"_**_Magic penguins?"_**

"Like mine." Felix said grinning, he loved his penguins.

_"_**_Don't ask."_**

**_Sadie pointed to the children inside. "How does it work? They see images in the water?"_**

_"_**_It's oil," Zia said. "But yes."_**

_"_**_So few," Sadie said. "Are these the only initiates in the whole city?"_**

_"_**_In the whole _****_world_****_," Zia corrected. "There were more before—" She stopped herself._**

"We betrayed our Gods." Iskander spoke up in a heavy tone before looking at the Gods. "I'm truly sorry for the unright we had committed against you in our own frustration regards our own mistakes, it may have been Thoth giving me the suggestion, but we embraced it to the fullest without a second thought." he bowed his head.

"Chief Lector…" Desjardins, Amos and Julius started to protest, but the old man held up his hand to silence them.

"I have lived long and held firmly onto my beliefs as I watched our numbers decrease as more and more of our kin decided to leave, to try living a normal life and now I'm here reading these books and hearing from the people of the new age how our numbers are growing again. See the Gods in the midst of magicians like in ancient times, this means that the way to save the House of Life had always been in front of us and we ignored it." he finished, his eyes again on the Gods.

"We had also not believed that we would again be united with the House and that this would save it form disappearing, but only time will tell how things will turn out." Thoth said with a small smile before turning to his follower. "Cleo, please continue."

_"_**_Before what?" I asked._**

_"_**_Nothing," Zia said darkly. "Initiates do our scrying because young minds are most receptive. Magicians begin training no later than the age of ten... with a few dangerous exceptions."_**

"Well, being powerful can be dangerous if one does not learn how to control it." Carter admitted to stop Zia from feeling guilty again.

"That is certainly true." Ramses found himself voicing his agreement.

_"_**_You mean us," I said._**

**_She glanced at me apprehensively, and I knew she was still thinking about what the bird spirit had called me: _****_a good king_****_._**

"Which he is, though that doesn't seem to influence Horus." Set whispered to Amos while at the other side of their couch Zia seemed to have told something similar to Carter because he was blushing again.

**_It seemed so unreal, like our family name in that _****_Blood of the Pharaohs_****_ scroll. How could I be related to some ancient kings? _**

Narmer gave the boy a reassuring smile that he can truly believe that.

**_And even if I was, _****_I_****_ certainly wasn't a king. I had no kingdom._**

Again, those from the present tried not to show their amusement that he now certainly had a kingdom.

**_I didn't even have my single suitcase anymore._**

_"_**_They'll be waiting for your," Zia said. "Come along."_**

All eyes travelled over to both Iskander and Desjardins who had also guessed that they are the ones whom Zia had meant with that sentence.

**_We walked so far, my feet began to ache._**

**_Finally we arrived at a crossroads. On the right was a massive set of bronze doors with fires blazing on either side; on the left, a twenty-foot-tall sphinx carved into the wall. A doorway nestled between its paws, but it was bricked in and covered in cobwebs._**

_"_**_That looks like the Sphinx in Giza," I said._**

_"_**_That's because we are directly under the _****_real_****_ Sphinx," Zia said. "That tunnels leads straight up to it. Or it used to, before it was sealed."_**

Leonid shivered and Cleo grabbed his hand while the others had dark looks on their faces.

"We needed to re-seal it in a different way." Sean grumbled to the others, they had been young at that time, but seeing those rebels rush in from that tunnel and sealing the door to the Hall of Ages had been frightening because at that time they all had thought that Amos was in there alone with his attackers.

_"_**_But..." I did some quick calculations in my head. "The Sphinx is, like, twenty miles from the Cairo Airport."_**

_"_**_Roughly."_**

_"_**_No way we've walked that far."_**

**_Zia actually smiled, and I couldn't noticing how pretty her eyes were._**

Carter groaned, Zia blushed and their friends snickered at them.

_"_**_Distance changes in magic places, Carter, surely you've learned that by now."_**

**_Sadie cleared her throat._**

"I needed to, those two were about to start flirting right there in front of me." Sadie defended her actions as the pair blushed again which made their glares less effective.

_"_**_So why is the tunnel closed, then?"_**

_"_**_The Sphinx was too popular with archaeologists," Zia said. "They kept digging around, finally, in the 1980s, they discovered the first part of the tunnel under the Sphinx."_**

"That nearly become a disaster." the older magicians muttered under their breaths.

_"_**_Dad told me about that!" I said. "But he said the tunnel was a dead end."_**

_"_**_It was when we got through with it. We couldn't let the archaeologists know how much they're missing. Egypt's leading archaeologist recently speculated that they've only discovered thirty percent of the ancient ruins in Egypt. In truth, they've only discovered one tenth, and not even the _****_interesting_****_ tenth."_**

_"_**_What about King Tut's tomb?" I protested._**

Carter gave Walt an apologetic look as the other shook his head that he was fine, though Sadie grabbed his hand, a gesture which didn't go unnoticed by her mother who started wondering about the reactions from the three.

_"_**_That boy king?" Zia rolled her eyes. "_****_Boring_****_._**

Now it was Zia who looked apologetic while some of the Gods also looked uncomfortable.

**_You should see some of the _****_good_****_ tombs."_**

**_I felt a little hurt._**

**_Dad had named me after Howard Carter, the guy who discovered King Tut's tomb, so I'd always felt a personal attachment to it._**

"So this is how we come up with your name." Julius looked at his son who nodded his head.

**_If that wasn't a "good" tomb, I wondered what was._**

**_Zia turned to face the bronze doors._**

_"_**_This is the Hall of Ages." She placed her palm against the seal, which bore the symbol of the House of Life._**

**_The hieroglyphs began to glow, and the doors swung open._**

**_Zia turned to us, her expression deadly serious. "You are about to meet the Chief Lector. Behave yourselves, unless you wish to be turned into insects."_**

"Please tell me that you did nothing wrong in that meeting." Julius pleaded to his children who looked back at him sheepishly.

"Well, Chief Lector Iskander was fine with us, though Desjardins was still kind of annoyed because of the Stone." Carter told his father who wanted to groan, just great, that was all he needed to hear at least will two people be there to step in.

"Felix, your turn." Cleo said as she passed the book to the other magician.

**_A French Guy Almost Kills Us_**

Julius felt again the urge to groan while Desjardins did his best to avoid Ruby's gaze on him.

"A nice title." she grumbled.

"Don't worry mom, it actually went better then one could have hoped for." Sadie added in which made her parents, uncle and Desjardins blink at her, the later mostly because in a way the girl had just defended his future actions.

"True, most of that could have been better avoided if we would have known more about the House." Carter added in, he come to this conclusion after going over his memories about the meeting on the night after the man had died.

Again, Desjardins wondered why now both siblings seemed to defend him and there were those strange looks again he could not identify in their meaning, but they made him uncomfortable.

"Felix." Sean nudged the other magician who understood and started reading the chapter.

**_The last couple of days I'd seen a lot of crazy things, but the Hall of Ages took the prize._**

"It certainly is a beautiful place." Carter said as the others smiled, the Hall was truly magnificent.

**_Double rows of stone pillars held up a ceiling so high, you could've parked a blimp under it with no trouble. A shimmering blue carpet that looked like water ran down the center of the hall, which was so long, I couldn't see the end even though it was brightly lit. Balls of fire floated around like helium basketballs, changing color whenever they bumped into one another. Millions of tiny hieroglyphic symbols also drifted through the air, randomly combining into words and then breaking apart._**

All magicians had smiles on their lips, the Hall was their pride, it held all of their history, the good and the bad times which had shaped their ways and beliefs. If they felt lost entering the Hall of Ages even for only a few minitues could give their soul peace and reassurence that they should not despair and they will find the way they need to walk to step out of the dark and into the sunlight.

**_I grabbed a pair of glowing red legs._**

**_They walked across my palm before jumping off and dissolving._**

**_But the weirdest things were the _****_displays_****_._**

"Displays?" younger Julius asked his son in amusement.

"Not that you were any better, when we first got there you said much to our father's and my embarrassment _'So, these are the magic rugs.'_." younger Amos told his blushing brother.

"I remember, dad nearly walked into the wall beside the door seeing how you dragged me in there because you were in a hurry and he was coming behind us." Amos said with a nod as he also remembered that day.

"Felix, please continue." older Julius said pleaded to the young animal charmer while Osiris laughed in his head and by the looks of it were some of the others also close to do the same beside the Rashids who looked curious seeing that Rachel had never been to the First Nome and Amir had also only been there trice in his life and he had been really little at those few times and hardly remembered them.

**_I don't know what else to call them._**

"Now I use their proper name." Carter said, now that he was mostly done with school, his doctorate work was also making it necessary to be in Egypt so he spent more time in the first Nome while Sadie and Walt took care of Brooklyn House in his absence.

**_Between the columns on either side of us, images shifted, coming into focus and then blurring out again like holograms in a sandstorm._**

Set smiled slowly at the comparison while Amos looked amusedly at her.

"Like when a certain deity wants to calm down and causes a three days long sandstorm in the Nevada desert?" he asked, after both of them returned to Brooklyn House and Set punched hours and walked over him they packed and drove to the desert for the other to calm down. He needed to admit that it had been a novel experience, being in the heart of a sandstorm and still not even feel the harsh wind, in the middle of the storm anything was calm and tranquil, he felt safe and at peace there which made him slowly understand why Set always departed there when frustrated. Though something told him that only a few would share their sentiments regards the peace of the desert.

_"_**_Come on," Zia told us. "And don't spend too much time looking."_**

**_It was impossible not to._**

"Though it is important to keep in mind." Sadie said, she didn't feel to happy at the memory that next morning after breakfast they will read about her getting to close to one of them, she also didn't look to desperate for that chapter, because it will sadden Zia.

By the thrones meanwhile Isis shifted again in her throne as both Anubis and Walt gave her dark looks, Sadie had been thrown against one of the tapestries as she had abandoned her at the worst time due to an argument about how her Eye wished to help her uncle who at that time had willingly given himself to Set and their bond was something she had till now never seen before. Till Amos had come around had Set never taken a host for himself, the few of his high priest who had served as host never held his soul for longer then ten to fifteen minutes after that Set broke the contact, the current Chief Lector was the only one with whom he held a longer contact and the person survived. The results of their first bonding had been because of the strange balance of their beings, it had been as if two fires would have been set against each other, but when neither struggled for control their souls were in complet harmony, something she had been sure that Set's soul could never be.

**_The first twenty feet or so, the magical scenes cast a golden light across the hall._**

All Gods had smiles on their lips.

**_A blazing sun rose above an ocean. A mountain emerged from the water, and I had a feeling I was watching the beginning of the world._**

"Because this is exactly what it was." Ashkender said softly, he had always loved reading about the Age of the Gods and of its start.

**_Giants_**

"You need to admit that your original height is much more greater then that of mortals." Carter told the Gods who were all looking at him.

"I just remembered, if different Gods are real, but each of the Pantheons have their own myths about how the world had come to be so which is real?" Walt asked suddenly, his gaze on the immortals.

"Each of them." they all replied in union, their voices perfectly normal as if this would not be something stunning.

"What!" yelled the stunned magicians.

"The world is more diverse then you could imagine, all the Pantheons, the way how the Gods have been born is true as are the stories about the start of things, all those combined have created this world together." Thoth told the magicians who were looking at them with wide, stunned eyes, but they understood.

"Wow, this sounds fascinating." Jaz said in awe.

"This is again something the mortals will never know, we have hidden our tracks well through the mist." Isis said with a little smile as the magicians nodded.

"Like Darwin's evolutions theory?" Cleo asked.

"Not fully, that was all of his doing seen how he had been a son of Athena." Set informed the girl.

"And a new prominent historical figure with godly relations." Carter muttered to himself, he will rally need a list to see history much more clearer.

**_strode across the Nile Valley: a man with black skin and the head of a jackal,_**

Walt smirked at Anubis who returned it.

**_a lioness with bloody fangs,_**

Jaz nodded her head while Horus made new plans for a date if he could manage it after Thoth is finished finding the antidote and he is still free from doing paperwork.

**_and a beautiful woman with wings of light._**

Isis and Sadie looked at each other.

**_Sadie stepped off the rug. In a trance, she reached toward the images._**

"Don't, they look beautiful, but touching them is dangerous if you are not a God." Ruby told her daughter, she didn't like the way she slightly turned her head or the annoyed look some of the others were sending towards Isis. She also didn't like the fact that the mentioning of the Hall by one of the arguments a few chapters ago had come to her mind again, she hoped that her worries were only caused by her hormones.

_"_**_Stay on the carpet!" Zia grabbed Sadie's hand and pulled her back toward the center of the hall._**

"Thank you." Ruby told the girl while her daughter swallowed her guilt, she had acted really irresponsible and arrogant at that time.

**_"You are seeing the Age of the Gods. No mortal should dwell on these images."_**

The magicians nodded their heads when Thoth spoke up all of a sudden.

"Though it may be possible that it is not dangerous if a demigod does so or the Eye of a God if they let their patron God have a stronger control on them as a protection." he told the group while Sadie nodded, that sounded possible.

"It is worth a try for later." Carter said while secretly glancing over at Amos who nodded his head in agreement.

_"_**_But..." Sadie blinked. "They're only pictures, aren't they?"_**

Sadie winched, she wished that they would only be pictures, but no luck in that department in the world of myths, Gods and magic.

_"_**_Memories," Zia said, "so powerful they could destroy your mind."_**

Ruby nodded her head sternly while Sadie bit back a groan, she will be scolded tomorrow now that was for sure, not exactly she wanted to face after breakfast.

_"_**_Oh," Sadie said in a small voice._**

"Idiotic remark." Sadie mumbled to herself, reading these books and hearing her own actions and thoughts again had she the urge to slap her younger self which was saying something.

**_We kept walking. The images changed to silver. I saw armies clashing—Egyptians in kilts and sandals and leather armor, fighting with spears. A tall, dark-skinned man in red-and-white armor placed a double crown on his head: Narmer, the king who united Upper and Lower Egypt._**

Said pharaoh smiled proudly at the mentioning of his greatest deed of uniting their lands.

**_Sadie was right: he did look a bit like Dad._**

Narmer continued to smile before he remembered the ground for his annoyance since some chapters, the fact that one of his descendants was a follower of the Red Lord, he won't even mention the child.

_"_**_This is the Old Kingdom," I guessed. "The first great age of Egypt."_**

Narmer looked more then pleased at this information while Ashkender crossed his arms.

"And this sentence just did wonders to his ego, even more then some of his advisors tend to do." he mumbled, those were also the ones who made it harder for him to get his brother to see his point about joining the ranks of Lord Set's priests.

**_Zia nodded. As we walked down the hall, we saw workers building the first step pyramid out of stone. Another few steps, and the biggest pyramid of all rose from the desert of Giza. Its outer layer of smooth white casing stones gleamed in the sun. The thousand workers gathered at its base and knelt before the pharaoh, who raised his hands to the sun, dedicating his own tomb._**

_"_**_Khufu," I said._**

_"_**_The baboon?" Sadie asked, suddenly interested._**

"I was not the best in Egyptian mythology at that time." Sadie defended herself.

_"_**_No, the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid," I said. "It was the tallest structure in the world for almost four thousand years."_**

**_Another few steps, and the images turned from silver to coppery._**

_"_**_The Middle Kingdom," Zia announced. "A bloody, chaotic time. And yet this is when the House of Life came to maturity."_**

Both Ramses and Hatshepsut nodded their heads, even in their time, those times still left their marks, the Gods also agreed and Set did her best to not look annoyed those times were the ones which slowly started the betrayal she had experienced.

**_The scenes shifted more rapidly. We watched armies fighting, temples being built, ships sailing on the Nile, and magicians throwing fire. Every step covered hundreds of years, and yet the hall still went on forever. For the first time I understood just how ancient Egypt was._**

The ancient rulers and divinities nodded approvingly at this, it was important that those carrying the ancient blood remember their roots while Mr. Faust looked unbelievingly at the book, he really needed to sleep this over.

**_We crossed another threshold, and the light turned bronze._**

_"_**_The New Kingdom," _**

Both Ramses and Hatshepsut smiled, this was their time of regain, but the next words startled them.

**_I guessed. "The last time Egypt was ruled by Egyptians."_**

"What?" they asked in shock.

"The first time both bound the strongest to the Flame of Western Civilization had united with each other was after this era." Thoth spoke up, the two Pantheons had some arguments with each other after the take over, but on some occasions they managed to find a way to get along, this had been the time Set and Hades had built out their friendship which was now doing them a great deed.

**_Zia said nothing, but I watched scenes that my dad had described to me: Hatshepsut, the greatest female pharaoh,_**

Said queen blushed slightly at the knowledge how the history remembers her while Felix smiled proudly before he continued reading.

**_putting on a fake beard and ruling Egypt as a man;_**

The queen's blush deepened as the others smiled at her.

"The building projects you have started are some of the most well known and admired, the mortuary temple which your vizier Senemut" the queen smiled at the name, the man had been one of her strongest supports and closest friends "in Dier el-Bahri, it still stands and the place is named The Valley of the Kings, the place where most Pharaohs had build their graves. You are also well known for the statuary works and for the restoration of the original Precinct of Mut in Karnak." Carter told the queen.

"She had been more then grateful for that." Tawaret added in with a kind smile.

"I thank you for the kind words." Hatshepsut thanked them, she could usually keep her cool and composure, but at the current moment somehow she could not bring herself to hide her feelings.

**_Ramses the Great_**

Ramses sat up straighter in his seat so he missed to see the small smiles on the lips of the Kane siblings, Ruby and her mother.

**_leading his chariots into battle._**

Hearing this he wondered which battle it could be.

**_I saw magicians duelling in a palace. A man in tattered robes, with a shaggy black beard and wild eyes, threw down his staff, which turned into a serpent and devoured a dozen other snakes._**

Mr. Faust frowned at this, the picture sounded strangely familiar to him.

**_I got a lump in my throat. "Is that—"_**

_"_**_Musa," Zia said. "Or Moshe, as his own people knew him. You call him Moses. _**

Mr. Faust felt his jaw drop at this, they are telling him here that the Bible or at least some of the things written in it are also true! Yes, he really wished for this chapter to end so that he could go to bed and hope that when he wakes up tomorrow this all turns out to be a weird dream which his wife's tea had caused, but something told him that this will not be the case.

**_The only foreigner ever to defeat the House in a magic duel."_**

"It was a shock for our followers and for us to." Isis said, she had been annoyed for almost two months.

**_I stared at her. "You're kidding, right?"_**

"It was hard to believe at first." Carter told the others.

_"_**_We would not kid about such a thing."_**

"We accepted the defeat, denying would have been something no one with honour would do." Desjardins pointed out.

**_The scene shifted again. I saw a man standing over a table of battle figurines:_**

Those who knew who it was smiled.

**_wooden toy ships, soldiers, and chariots. The man was dressed like a pharaoh, but his face looked oddly familiar. He looked up and seemed to smile right at me. With a chill, I realized he had the same face as the _****_ba_****_, the bird-faced spirit who'd challenged me on the bridge._**

The visitors who knew who that person was blinked while Iskander looked at Carter intrigued, he often talked with the bas of past rulers and almost two decades ago he had told him that he saw a vision, a vision that soon the empty throne would be filled again, but on Earth and in Heaven, now he wondered if that prophecy had come true in the person of the young man sitting in front of him.

_"_**_Who is that?" I asked._**

_"_**_Nectanebo II," Zia said. "The last native Egyptian king, and the last sorcerer pharaoh._**

"He had also been a follower of the Path of Ra, the last ruler to do so." Zia told the others so she didn't notice the look Set and Amos exchanged.

"He also had a good relationship to both me and Horus as well as some other Gods, religion was important to him." Isis said, the temple she had received from him had been truly beautiful.

"He was also a good strategist." Sadie said remembering how she saw Amos and Zia work on the board he had created.

**_He could move entire armies, create or destroy navies by moving pieces on his board, but in the end, it was not enough."_**

"True, he had been betrayed by the one he had trusted." Set said, her words making Osiris and Nephthys flinch on their thrones while others bowed their heads.

**_We stepped over another line and the images shimmered blue. "These are the Ptolemaic times," Zia said._**

The four of the antique listened with interest, they wanted to know what had happened to their land after the last ruler of Egyptian blood had lost, tough they dreaded the knowledge after the things they had heard.

**_"Alexander the Great conquered the known world, including Egypt. He set up his general Ptolemy as the new pharaoh, and founded a line of Greek kings to rule over Egypt."_**

Iskander nodded his head, this had been the time the Flame united the two Pantheons and now after so many millennia they were united again, though this time not by concurring.

**_The Ptolemaic section of the hall was shorter, and seemed sad compared to the others._**

"It was, even our allies agree on that." Thoth told them.

**_The temples were smaller. The kings and queens looked desperate, or lazy, or simply apathetic._**

The past rulers looked outraged; this was _not_ how a ruler of Great Egypt should look to the eye of anyone!

**_There were no great battles... except towards the end._**

"More like grasping for a saving line." Horus grumbled, even Ares, Athena and Enyo had agreed with him that the leaders of their people were acting more then pathetic.

**_I saw Romans march into the city of Alexandria. I saw a woman with dark hair and a white dress drop a snake into her blouse._**

"Her master plan to save things had terribly failed with the murderer of both of her lovers, maybe if the first one would have not been betrayed and murdered things would have gone better, but it didn't happen." Isis said sadly, Egypt had been fully lost on that day and… no she would not think about Lord Ra's words to her.

_"_**_Cleopatra," _**

Iskander bowed his head in sadness, that poor foolish child, she had been not a bad person, but things had been too much for her.

**_Zia said, "the seventh queen of that name. She tried to stand against the might of Rome, and she lost. When she took her life, the last line of the pharaohs ended._**

Those of the antique felt saddened and cold while the others bowed their heads as Felix read the next lines which made the four rulers flinch in despair.

**_Egypt, the great nation, faded. Our language was forgotten. The ancient rites were suppressed. The House of Life survived, but we were forced into hiding."_**

"So this is what had happened as Lord Ra's prophecy had come true?" Ramses asked in a sad tone.

"Yes, this is what had happened." Iskander replied to the pharaoh who nodded his head carefully, his eyes filled with sadness at the knowledge.

**_We passed into an area of red light, and history began to look familiar. I saw Arab armies riding into Egypt, then the Turks. Napoleon marched his army under the shadow of the pyramids. The British came and built the Suez Canal. Slowly Cairo grew into a modern city. And the old ruins faded farther and farther under the sands of the desert._**

The Gods glared at their laps or the wall, those from the far past also looked to share their feelings.

_"_**_Each year," Zia said, "the Hall of Ages grows longer to encompass our history. Up until the present."_**

**_I was so dazed I didn't even realize we'd reached the end of the hall until Sadie grabbed my arm._**

"Thanks, I doubt that it would have been appreciated if I would have continued walking." Carter whispered to Sadie who had again switched places with Walt.

"No prob, you walking into Desjardins would have not improved his mood in the least." she whispered back to him, he fully agreed with his sister.

"By the way, sorry is some descriptions are not exactly flattering." Carter said suddenly while Iskander held up his hand, a small smile on his face.

"It is fine though I hope that I had not been to hard on you and your sister." he told the young man who smiled back at him together with his sister.

"You were more then fair with us Master." Carter told the old man while taking Zia's hand into his, the older man nodded.

**_In front of us stood a dais and on it an empty throne,_**

Again, those from the present did their best to not smile, that throne was not empty anymore.

**_a gilded wooden chair with a flail and a shepherd's crook carved in the back— the ancient symbols of the pharaoh._**

**_On the step below the throne sat the oldest man I'd ever seen._**

Iskander looked amused while Julius tried not to groan as Desjardins looked offended for his Master whom he saw as a second-grandfather.

"And then we met Ra." Sadie whispered to her brother while Felix continued.

**_His skin was like lunch-bag paper—brown, thin, and crinkled._**

Iskander placed his hand on Desjardin's arm to keep him from commenting, he didn't feel offended by the young man's description, he did not know who he was and had gone through much with to little answers. Julius meanwhile wanted to bang his head against the wall, at least was the Chief Lector not offended and it seemed that he was holding Desjardins back from commenting which was good.

**_White linen robes hung loosely off his small frame. A leopard skin was draped around his shoulders,_**

"Which certainly looks appealing on you." Set whispered to Amos, it was his turn now to try keeping a blush at bay.

**_and his hand shakily held a big wooden staff, which I was sure he was going to drop any minute. But weirdest of all, the glowing hieroglyphs in the air seemed to be coming _****_from him_****_. Multicolored symbols popped up all around him and floated away as if he were some sort of magic bubble machine._**

"Carter!" both Juliuses whined as Desjardins felt his jaw drop and this time also Amos placed his hand on the man's other arm.

"This is certainly an interesting comparison young man." Iskander told Carter good naturedly while the other looked back at him with a sheepish smile.

**_At first I wasn't sure he was even alive._**

The old Chief Lector nodded, when he dwelled into his memories of times long past he could certainly give that impression, but he noticed the sadness hushing over the faces of those from the present, somehow this didn't surprise him, he had felt that his time was coming soon to an end.

**_His milky eyes stared into space. Then he focused on me, and electricity coursed through my body._**

"I'm sorry if that had startled you." the old man told Carter.

"It is fine, you wished to confirm something which you had been expecting for some time now and wished to know if it would be the right thing." Carter told him and the Chief Lector nodded, somehow he had a guess that it had to do with the Gods and magicians uniting again.

**_He wasn't just looking at me. He was scanning me—reading my entire being._**

"This is what I meant."

**_Hide,_****_ something inside me._**

"That would have been my suggestion, I was at that time not exactly fond of seeing you again Chief Lector." Horus told the man who nodded; he understood the God's feelings towards him whom had ordered the war against them.

**_I didn't know where the voice came from, but my stomach clenched. My whole body tensed as if I were bracing for a hit, and the electrical feeling subsided._**

**_The old man raised an eyebrow as if I'd surprised him._**

"I'm sure you did, something tells me that you had pulled up a mental wall which was strong enough to stop me, that from a magician having not been trained in our ways is remarkable." Iskander told Carter.

"Agreed, even I was surprised that you pulled up the wall without my powers." Horus told Carter who looked in shock at the God, he had thought that it had been Horus and not him.

**_He glanced behind him and said something in a language I didn't recognize._**

"Now I do and as things seem we will be soon having shared language classes." Carter said while looking over at Set questioningly so he didn't notice Julian cringe at his words.

"Yes, you will get classes in Ancient Greek and some Latin from the Roman Demigods and you will teach them Ancient Egyptian." she informed the group at large.

"That sounds interesting." Ruby said.

"Agreed." some of the initiates said.

**_A second man stepped out of the shadows._**

All eyes travelled to Desjardins.

**_I wanted to yelp. He was the guy who'd been with Zia in the British Museum—the one with the cream-colored robes and forked beard._**

Desjardins nodded, at least he didn't get a ridiculous description, but that was all to it he waited for the children to channel their father's annoyingness which drives him mad and then there was still the thing with the Rosetta Stone, that was hard to let go no matter how silly it seems to others.

**_The bearded man glared at Sadie and me._**

Ruby on the other had glared at said man, but did nothing more the way her children had spoken up in his defence had bothered her, she did not know why, but it made her stomach turn painfully.

_"_**_I am Desjardins," he said with a French accent._**

Desjardins raised an eyebrow, of course he would have a French accent, he was French for goodness shake.

**_"My master, Chief Lector Iskander, welcomes you to the House of Life."_**

**_I couldn't think what to say to that, so of course I asked a stupid question. "He's really old._**

This time Julius really groaned while Desjardins returned to gaping in disbelief while said old man let out a soft laugh, he always thought that this fact was obvious.

**_Why isn't he sitting on the throne?"_**

This time both Juliuses and younger Amos groaned, the later keeping his grip on Desjardin's arm.

"What a…", but Iskander silenced him with a look before turning to Felix.

"Please, continue young man." he told the teen who nodded.

"At least we don't get a live repeat from that lecture." Sadie whispered to her brother who agreed whole heartedly with her, once had been enough.

**_Desjardins' nostrils flared, but the old dude, Iskander, just chuckled, _**

Just like he did now at the '_old dude'_ comment.

**_and said something else in that other language._**

**_Desjardins translated stiffly: "The master says thank you for noticing; he is in fact _****_really_****_ old. _**

Desjardins looked annoyed that his Master was so forgiving to these children while the Kane siblings wondered if it had actually been Master Iskander who had been a model to Amos how to play chaperone for people who are hard to control and he did a good job at it.

**_But the throne is for the pharaoh. It has been vacant since the fall of Egypt to Rome._**

Again they held back foreshadowing grins.

**_It is... _****_comment dit-on_****_?_**

"Huh?" some asked in confusion while Desjardins flushed.

"I'm good at Alexandrian-Greek, but sometimes when I translate the words come in French to my mind and then I have some little trouble to put them into English." he admitted, not even sure why he did that though he noticed Amos's older self giving him a little smile.

"You were probably meaning to say that it is 'symbolic'." younger Amos whispered to him which made the other man smile, he really preferred the company of the younger Kane brother who seemed to be able to read his moods and know what he wanted to say if he has trouble to translate his French into English.

**_Symbolic._**

Both men smiled again and Desjardins felt again some bitterness that he will lose the person he could see as his friend.

**_The Chief Lector's role is to serve and protect the pharaoh. Therefore he sits at the foot of the throne."_**

Carter suddenly tensed and leaned closer to his sister, Zia and Walt, his face etched with confusion.

"What is it?" Sadie asked her brother.

"I just remembered, isn't the place beside the throne by the Gods usually occupied by Set?" he asked them remembering when he sent his ba up right when Horus held his speech after the battle with Apophis.

"That is true, both when Ra regained and now by Horus he is always sitting or standing by the throne with his staff in the hand." Walt told him.

"Ra told me that when the House of Life was founded had Thoth kind of this pattern for the roles of the House's Pharaoh and Chief Lector." Zia added in as she remembered one of her past conversations.

"So in a way are we currently having everyone placed in their original roles both in mortal and divine places." Carter concluded, this sounded certainly interesting that the role of Chief Lector was actually intended to represent Set's role at Ra's side.

"Yes, with Amos being the Eye of Set and Ra having named Horus as his rightful successor with you being his Eye." Zia confirmed.

**_I looked at Iskander a little nervously. I wondered how many years he'd been sitting on that step._**

"To many tiresome years." the old man replied softly, he felt tired and knew that he would soon go to sleep and never wake up again, but it calmed him that he may be allowed to do so with a calm heart, but he could note the panicked look Mitchell was giving him. He knew that the young man had faults and was often angry because he felt that others may look down on him for even thought he was a magician, he was not from the blood of Egypt, but he knew that under all that anger and arrogance was an intelligent young man with a deep dedication to Ma'at and the House as well as to those he considers close to him.

_"_**_If you... if he can understand English... what language is he speaking?"_**

**_Desjardins sniffed. "The Chief Lector understands many things. But he prefers to speak Alexandrian Greek, his birth tongue."_**

Mr. Faust raised his eyebrows, what the heck did that mean?

**_Sadie cleared her throat. "Sorry, his _****_birth_****_ tongue? Wasn't Alexander the Great way back in the blue section, thousands of years ago? You make it sound like Lord Salamander is—"_**

"What!" some of the visitors yelled.

"I'm sorry." Sadie said hurriedly not only to the old man, but also to Zia, Desjardins meanwhile certainly had now the same expression on his face as he had back then, the look which gave you the impression that he will soon start breathing fire or throwing lightning sounded closer to the truth.

"It is fine, your grandfather had by his first time in the Nome also misunderstood my name." Iskander reassured the girl as he remembered the incident while the Kane brothers suddenly understood why their father was almost drilling the man's name into their heads.

"He certainly did." Desjardins grumbled, he was ready to attack, but Nimat and Lord Iskander had both stopped him.

_"_**_Lord _****_Iskandar_****_," Desjardins hissed. "Show respect!"_**

Ruby wanted to snap at the other, but decided against it.

**_Something clicked in my mind: back in Brooklyn, Amos had talked about the magicians' law against summoning gods—a law made in Roman times by the Chief Lector... Iskander._**

The magicians nodded while Mr. Faust gaped in shock.

"Wha…", but then he felt his wife's hand on his arm so he turned to her.

"Those of us who use their magic can reach stunningly high ages." she whispered to him, her family had freely given upon long life.

"Margaret, we are talking about two thousand years." Mr. Faust replied back, no human could live that long, one hundred and a few years over it he could see, but two millennia?

"In the world my family left and our daughter returned to is it possible." Margaret told her husband, her tone filled not only with sincerity, but also some amusement.

**_Surely it had to be a different guy. Maybe we were talking to Iskander the XXVII or something._**

Iskander shook his head, he somehow certainly felt amused by this.

**_The old man looked me in the eyes. He smiled, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking._**

"I have seen many generations of young magicians so I have learned to read people well." Iskander informed Carter who nodded, Amos was also like that, he could read other people well.

**_He said something in Greek, and Desjardins translated._**

_"_**_The master says not to worry. You will not be held responsible for the past crimes of your family._**

Both Juliuses flinched and did their best to not look at their younger brothers, Ruby and the children as Iskander gave the young woman an apologetic smile who only shook her head to signal to him that she was not angry at him.

**_At least, not until we have investigated you further."_**

_"_**_Gee... thanks," I said._**

_"_**_Do not mock our generosity, boy," Desjardins warned._**

"That is something your father would have said." younger Amos said at which Carter blushed.

"True, you would have commented something more witty." Desjardins told the man beside him who gave him a grin in response while the Kane siblings looked over at their uncle who had a sad smile on his lips; somehow they knew that the two men, even if never fully admitting it, they had been friends.

_"_**_Your father broke our most important law twice:_**

Both Juliuses flinched again.

**_once at Cleopatra's Needle, when he tried to summon the gods and your mother died assisting him._**

Ruby and her parents also flinched.

**_Then again at the British Museum, when your father was foolish enough to use the Rosetta Stone itself. Now your uncle is missing—"_**

This time Desjardins flinched at both of the mentioned facts.

_"_**_You know what's happened to Amos?" Sadie blurted out._**

**_Desjardins scowled. "Not yet," he admitted._**

Carter, Sadie and Zia gave him sad looks, it must have been no pleasant for him to be reminded in this way that someone whom he saw as a friend being lost and with no clue where to find him. Desjardins didn't see those looks, he was holding back from looking over at the God dressed in Red, unlike his book self he was having an inkling where Amos was and he didn't like it one bit.

_"_**_You have to find him!" Sadie cried._**

"I would appreciate it." younger Julius mumbled to himself.

_"_**_Don't you have some sort of GPS magic or—"_**

"Saddly not." Ruby said.

"Actually, if one is hosting a God and they are at that time not sharing a body the God could find their host." Thoth explained to the magicians who nodded their heads that was good to know in the option of the hosts.

_"_**_We are searching," Desjardins said. "But you cannot worry about Amos. You must stay here. You must be... trained."_**

"Why do I think that the last word was hard to say for you." Amos whispered to Desjardins as Ruby huffed in annoyance.

**_I got the impression he was going to say a different word, something not as nice as _****_trained_****_._**

Ruby looked even more annoyed as the French magician squirmed in his seat.

**_Iskander spoke directly to me._**

**_His tone sounded kindly._**

Ruby relaxed somewhat.

_"_**_The master warns that the Demon Days begin tomorrow at sunset," Desjardins translated. "You must be kept safe."_**

Ruby smiled at this happily, though she knew that it would be short lived.

_"_**_But we have to find our dad!" I said. "Dangerous gods are on the loose out there. We saw Serqet. And Set!"_**

**_At these names, Iskander's expression tightened. _**

Said man looked over at the God who only shrugged.

**_He turned and gave Desjardins what sounded like an order. Desjardins protested. Iskander repeated his statement._**

**_Desjardins clearly didn't like it,_**

"I can imagine why I didn't like it." Desjardins grumbled to himself, but he knew that he would not be able to refuse an order no matter if he wanted it or not.

**_but he bowed to his master. Then he turned toward me. "The Chief Lector wishes to hear your story."_**

**_So I told him, with Sadie jumping in whenever I stopped to take a breath. The funny thing was, we both left out certain things without planning to._**

"That was mostly thanks to those two." Carter said while looking over at Horus and Isis.

**_We didn't mention Sadie's magic abilities, or the encounter with the _****_ba_****_ who'd called me a king._**

Iskander nodded in agreement, hand still on Desjardin's arm, if one of them would have mentioned him then he would have certainly remembered that foretelling about which he had been informed.

**_It was like I literally _****_couldn't_****_ mention those things._**

"More like wasn't able." Carter mumbled while looking at Hours who gave him an innocent smile which was not that easy to believe as the God always hoped.

**_Whenever I tried, the voice inside my head whispered, _****_Not that part. Be silent_****_._**

"I was really close to ask if the house has some type of psychiatrist because I fear that I have gone mad." Carter admitted at which Zia looked at him amused.

**_When I was done, I glanced at Zia. She said nothing, but she was studying me with a troubled expression._**

"And you were surprised about that?" Zia asked her boyfriend with a smirk on her lips, it hurt to hear about both Iskander and Desjardins so many years after their deaths, but she was allowed by Lord Osiris to visit them, they were happy now and at peace.

**_Iskander traced a circle on the step with the butt of his staff. More hieroglyphs popped into the air and floated away._**

**_After several seconds, Desjardins seemed to grow impatient._**

"Though now we kind of understand that from the House's point of view our tale sounded pretty ridiculous, leave alone the fact that the Gods were not liked at that time and Dad released five of them in one go." Carter spoke up and again Desjardins was confused asto why the other was defending him.

**_He stepped forward and glared at us. "You are lying. That could not have been Set. He would need a powerful host to remain in this world. _****_Very_****_ powerful."_**

All eyes slowly travelled to the pair dressed in red.

"Yes?" Amos asked innocently, it was really hard not to grin at the shocked looks he was getting from most of their visitors, Set didn't have such qualms, she certainly found a powerful host who most importantly accepted her.

"Nothing." they all replied and turned back to the book in Felix's hands.

_"_**_Look, you," Sadie said._**

"And she is channelling her mother." Desjardins said, if for nothing else then to get his mind away from the fact he had mentioned in the last sentence regards a host for Set.

**_"I don't know what all this rubbish is about hosts,_**

"I take that back now." now she understood and is again one.

**_but I saw Set with my own eyes. You were there at the British Museum—you must have done, too. And if Carter saw him in Phoenix, Arizona, then..." She looked at me doubtfully. "Then he's probably not crazy."_**

Carter smiled at Sadie who returned the smile.

_"_**_Thanks, Sis," I mumbled, but Sadie was just getting started._**

_"_**_And as for Serqet, she's real too! Our friend, my cat, Bast, died protecting us!"_**

"Not the best thing to add Sadie." Ruby told her daughter.

"I realized that." Sadie admitted, mentioning Bast had only send Desjardins on another roll.

_"_**_So," Desjardins said coldly, "you admit to consorting with gods. That makes our investigation much easier. Bast is not your _****_friend_****_. The gods caused the downfall of Egypt._**

"It was in a good deal the people who had failed in that, though if you really want also a God to blame there is one with whom you can do that, it should be in the books." Set said coldly while Isis shifted in her throne uncomfortably, she didn't look forward to that chapter. "Felix continue."

**_It is forbidden to call on their powers. Magicians are sworn to keep the gods from interfering in the mortal world. We must use all our power to fight them."_**

_"_**_Bast said you were paranoid," Sadie added._**

"You certainly have an impulsivity to comment at the wrongest of times like only a demigod could." Set said while shaking her head at the blushing girl.

**_The magician clenched his fists, and the air tingled with the weird smell of ozone, like during a thunderstorm._**

"You can use storm type magic?" Ruby asked in a stunned tone while Desjardins only shrugged, he didn't like using that power.

"And now we know even more why I thought that he was Set's host." Carter whispered to Sadie.

**_The hairs on my neck stood straight up. Before anything bad could happen, Zia stepped in front of us._**

"I knew that he would not hurt me." Zia said in a sad tone, no matter his faults Desjardins was on occasions like an older brother to her.

_"_**_Lord Desjardins," she pleaded, "there _****_was_****_ something strange. When I ensnared the scorpion goddess, she re-formed almost instantly. I could not return her to the Duat, even with the Seven Ribbons._**

The Gods let out whimpering sounds, but managed to stay in their seats.

**_I could only break her hold on the host for a moment. Perhaps the rumors of other escapes—"_**

_"_**_What other escapes?" I asked._**

**_She glanced at me reluctantly. "Other gods, _****_many_****_ of them, released since last night from artifacts all over the world. Like a chain reaction—"_**

"More like the usage of the fact that from my time with protecting Lord Ra each night for millennia I can function with little sleep." Set stated while Horus groaned, he certainly suffered because of that fact.

"You have been really busy then." Sadie said blinking, Set had almost released all the locked away Gods at that time.

"I'm usually dedicated to those things I consider my job." Set replied with a shrug and Narmer was again avoiding his brother's gaze, not wanting to accept that the Red Lords had also a good side to him, he held on stubbornly to that.

_"_**_Zia!" Desjardins snapped. "That information is not for sharing."_**

"Though we would have it figured out soon enough." Carter said, they did meet up with a good deal of Gods.

_"_**_Look," I said, "lord, sir, whatever—Bast warned us this would happen. She said Set would release more gods."_**

_"_**_Master," Zia pleaded, "if Ma'at is weakening, if Set is increasing chaos, perhaps that is why I could not banish Serqet."_**

"We wish that this would have been the truth." those of the present grumbled under their breaths, Set's chaos would have been more welcomed then that of Apophis.

_"_**_Ridiculous," Desjardins said. "You are skilled, Zia, but perhaps you were not skilled enough for this encounter._**

Before her parents could react Zia spoke up, a small, sad smile on her lips.

"I can't go on missions with you or another of the adult magicians at my side to make me stand in the background while you fight the enemy forever, I needed to grow up sometime." she told Desjardins who nodded his head reluctantly, glad that she was not offended by his words, she was like a little sister in his eyes and he worried about her.

**_And as for these two, the contamination must be contained."_**

**_Zia's face reddened. _**

"I was angry at this comment and not the former one, I have already explained why." Zia said with a shrug.

**_She turned her attention to Iskander. "Master, please. Give me a chance with them."_**

"See." Zia replied while Ruby and Julius smiled at her, grateful that no matter the differences and the short time they had known each other, she still tired to help heir children.

_"_**_You forget your place," Desjardins snapped. "These two are guilty and must be destroyed."_**

**_My throat started closing up. I looked at Sadie. If we had to make a run for it down that long hall, I didn't like our chances..._**

**_The old man finally looked up. He smiled at Zia with true affection. For a second I wondered if she were his great-great-great-granddaughter of something._**

"No, though I have always considered Master Iskander as something like a grandfather." Zia admitted at which the man smiled at her with the same kind smile he had always given her, she felt tears threatening to overflow her eyes while her parents looked at them curiously.

**_He spoke in Greek, and Zia bowed deeply._**

**_Desjardins looked ready to explode. _**

Desjardins could perfectly understand his book selves reactions.

**_He swept his robes away from his feet and marched behind the throne._**

_"_**_The Chief Lector will allow Zia to test you," he growled. "Meanwhile, I will seek out the truth—or the lies—in your story. _**

"Meaning you will be looking for me?" younger Amos whispered to the French magician at his side who avoided looking at him.

**_You will be punished for the lies."_**

**_I turned to Iskander and copied Zia's bow. Sadie did the same._**

_"_**_Thank you, master," I said._**

**_The old man studied me for a long time. Again I felt as if he were trying to burn into my soul—not in an angry way. More out of concern._**

"I had seen the results of failed hosts." Iskander admitted and Carter nodded, he was thankful for that concern.

**_Then he mumbled something, and I understood two words: _****_Nectanebo_****_ and _****_ba_****_._**

The old Chief Lector smiled, so even in that case he had remembered his talk with the ancient ruler, the others on the other hand looked confused.

**_He opened his hand and a flood of glowing hieroglyphs poured out, swarming around the dais. There was a blinding flash of light, and when I could see again, the dais was empty. The two men were gone._**

**_Zia turned toward us, her expression grim. "I will show you to your quarters. In the morning, your testing begins. We will see what magic you know, and how you know it."_**

**_I wasn't sure what she meant by that, but I exchanged an uneasy look with Sadie._**

_"_**_Sounds fun," Sadie ventured. "And if we fail this test?"_**

**_Zia regarded her coldly. "This is not the sort of test you fail, Sadie Kane. You pass or you die."_**

Mr. Faust looked again at his wife with unbelieving eyes while Set looked thoughtful.

"So this is like the first test a demigod absolves." she said.

"What do you mean?" Jaz asked the God.

"You will see it, but now is the reading over for tonight." Set said as everyone slowly started to get up, stretch themselves and make their ways to the entrance of the attic to go down to have dinner and go to bed.

_To be continued…_


	13. Conversations in the night and birthdays

A/N: so we finally reached the needed ten reviews…took more time then I would have thought, really even if only one person would have given a comment for like the first ten chapters this could have been updated weeks ago, but it nearly took the whole month. Well at least those who read the _**Magic of the Rose Cross**_a good time with the updates and I will get to do the one or two last chapters after I'm done updating this and my PJO reading fic.

Also would like to point out if you dislike what I write those comments don't count for me as comments, constructive critic I don't mind though I really do my best with the grammar, but I already stated the facts why that will never be perfect or even close to it. Other things, don't like a pairing ignore it or leave the story, I got already annoyed by _The fate in our hands_ fic where someone had trouble to understand that I don't care if they don't like Reyna and that in their option is Piper/Jason the better pairing and saying that because I don't use those as parings my own option is ruining the story_**is**_ insulting. That fic is about facing past mistakes and bonding between the gods and their demigod children and _NOT_ about who is ending up with whom in the future.

Though now enough with the ranting, just got home due to my room mate having a party for her sister who marries next month so I got home and the trip took four hours and my grandmother decided that I'm not feeling tired and wish for a long talk about some things which make me shudder, food I have never liked to even look at or the whole how much she prays for us. As seen in my profile and the forum I made long ago, I accept it, but still I don't want to hear about it for a whole hour when I'm tired and don't wish to talk. Now I really stop and continue the new chapter hope this time I don't need almost a whole month to just get ten reviews…

* * *

XIII. Conversations in the night and birthdays in the morn

Dinner had been an eventless affair, well after most people decided to ignore the horror which the three pregnant members of their reading group decided to have for the night. In other words, you wanted to eat, don't look to your right. After finishing up and Phillip receiving together with the penguins a few more snacks was everyone on their way to their assigned guest bedrooms, well most of them did that.

Amos Kane was carefully walking around Brooklyn House, he would soon go to bed, but before that he wanted to at least somewhat relish in the fact that there was a chance for him to escape the fate of the place he loved so much becoming his solitary prison. Brooklyn House was not made to hold only one living soul in it, but to embrace and protect the souls of hundreds, these were the words the old head and his teacher had told him. The man had also been the first one to encourage Amos to pursue the skills which felt right to him and not those he thinks others, mostly his parents, would deem as skills a good magician should posses. He had been the first one to see him as something other then Julius's shadow, he had seen him.

Amos just passed close to one of the open balconies looking at the East River, he was bout to pass it to head to his guest room, as amusing as that sounds, but then two voices stopped him.

"_Yes, thank you for informing me I will talk to Hazel so that there should be no misunderstandings." _come a deep male voice which he had not heard before, but it somehow felt similar in aspect to that of Osiris.

"It is fine, Sadie is not a bad kid she only tends to comment before thinking and…" that voice on the other hand belonged to Set, he sneaked closer.

"_Don't be worried old friend, from what you told me is she not worse in this case like our demigod children and believe me, they can comment the worst things at the worst of times, mostly if they are called Perseus Jackson." _the other male voice laughed, when Amos finally got closer he could also see the other. He saw a swirling mirror like mist surrounded by a rainbow, the man who could be seen on its surface had albino white skin which was brought even more out with his shulderlenght black hair, intense dark eyes and black robes which seemed to shift from time to time, he seemed to be standing inside a large hall, but Amos could not make out much.

"Yes, I'm already trying to mentally prepare myself for those, but I'm glad that Hazel will not feel hurt because of that comment, she is a nice girl." he heard Set say with a small smile on her lips which indicated that she had often meet the aforementioned girl.

"_As said that is fine Set, though we should probably stop talking now, you are expecting and should rest, don't forget I have been a father to three immortal children and four demigods so I have experience." _the other said and Amos suddenly put together who he was, Hades the Greek God of the Dead.

"I know, though are you alright?" Set asked suddenly, she seemed to have picked up on something and Amos also kind of noted now that when he spoke about '_children'_ Hades's voice had a soft tremble to it.

"_We are currently reading the third book, to be more precise we finished with the chapter where…" _the Lord of the Underworld took a deep breath _"…Bianca…",_ but Set held up her hand.

"You don't need to tell, I know what you mean." Set replied gently and Amos understood what was not said, it felt as if one would have stuck through his heart with a shard of ice.

"_Good night Set." _Hades replied in a thankful tone.

"Night Hades." Set replied with a nod and slashed through mirror like mist and broke the connection. "Amos, there is no use in hiding, there is no difference between you and your older self regards the link we share no matter if in your time we haven't even meet." the God spoke up while turning to the balcony door, the moon light making her long red hair glitter as if there would have been stars woven into it, her skin and eyes glowed like the night desert. Amos needed to swallow hard and remind himself whom he was facing as he stepped out from where he had stood.

"I didn't plan on eavesdropping, I just had a small walk before heading for bed and I heard the end of your talk by accident." he found himself explaining at which the God laughed.

"A typical Kane answer." Set said in an amused tone, her Eye and his family had a tendency for accidentally eavesdropping or being on places they should not be, their baby will certainly be a handful to handle.

"Uhm…" Amos was certainly not sure how to answer, during the reading he had made it clear to himself that he could accept the path he follows, if his family accepts it and on that he was left with no doubts, then it was fine, the child thought was also slowly starting to sound appealing to him, but the flirting…Yes, he needed to admit that the God looked stunning and without an intended pun divine, but he reminded himself that the other had not freely chosen this form and would have hastened the finding of an antidote if not for the wish to keep the child. Their child…

"Amos." the God's voice was gentle, like he often heard him during the reading when interacting with him or mentioning Ra. She was now standing in front of him, one of her long fingered hands was gently placed on his shoulder, the touch sent warmth through his body. "Is this about Kara?" Amos tensed at this, it had been only two months ago that he found out and he had not told anyone, he could not bring himself to tell even if Ruby seemed sometimes to feel that something was off, but it seemed that he will tell someone.

"I…" it was not easy to speak, his throat felt dry, during these readings he could forget about the bitter pain, but now that it had resurfaced again...

"It is fine, though I want you to know that it was not your fault, you are a wonderful person." Set said softly before adding "you should go to bed now, these books will be only even more stressing before things calm down." Amos suddenly felt himself growing sleepy from the warmth the God let spread through him, he really needed to agree with his older self and the Goddess Nephthys, it really was a pleasant warmth.

"Yes I think you may be right, good night." he heard himself say, the warmth spreading through his body, the gentle night air and the now Goddess standing so close to him, the moonlight illuminating on her, all of this kind of had a strange influence on him, this he noted with shocked certainty when he realized that he had leaned closer to the God, his hands placed on her arms. "Uh…I think I really should go now…" he told the other and hurried away, leaving a blushing Set behind on the balcony.

At the same time was Chief Lector Iskander standing on the balcony of his own guest room, his eyes on the moon knowing that not only Artemis had drawn her chariot over the sky, but also Khons finally resides in his symbol. It certainly was a strange thing to know that the abandoned Gods had returned, but strangely he felt at peace by the thought, this city bound the two worlds together in which he had been born so many decades ago. Somehow he knew that this alliance will be unlike the one in the past, it will not weaken those of power, but strengthen them. A knock on his door made him turn around, he was punctual like always.

"Enter." he called out softly, it was for him in a slight way amusing that he was at the given time using English and not his birth language, but he didn't want to make Mitchell busy with translating, something he seemed really fond of doing for him, so that he can learn from these books then something told him that this was important that they all pay attention.

"You wished to talk with me Chief Lector?" the old man could hear the uncertainty from the young man who had come with such curious and wide eyes to the First almost two hundred years ago.

"Yes, I would like to ask you to pay careful attention to these books so that you will be able to help the House find the right path." he told the wide eyed man.

"But…if what we have found out is true then, this would mean following the Gods…" Desjardins was completely lost, he learned to distrust the Gods and to fight them, how could he after such a long time accept them and there was also the other annoying and mocking voice in the back of his mind, _why would they even accept a magician not from their lands. _

"Desjardins, you are a magician of the House of Life, no one can tell you otherwise or deny it from you that you are one of us, our ancestry is only a small factor, it shows relations, but it is not which decides who we are only it may contribute to it, but that is only a small part of a persons being." Iskander told him firmly, he had spent a long time trying to make Mitchell step over his doubts regards his worth as a magician, he had the right to be one of them.

"I know…" he still didn't sound convinced "though why are you asking me this, to pay close attention and help the House? You are our Chief Lector and it is only natural that I aid you."

"Yes, you have always stood close to me in the past, but I'm an old man and with each passing year I hear the Twin Gods calling even clearer." Iskander said as Desjardins looked at him strangely.

"You mean the parents of the Demon Days?" Desjardins asked in confusion at which Iskander shook his head with a sad smile.

"No child," Desjardins felt a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, his teacher only called him that if he wanted to point out something to him, something with a deep meaning. "I'm talking about the twins from the other part of my blood, the sons of Night and Darkness." he told the other and knew exactly when Mitchell had figured out his words for his face had suddenly turned ashen.

"No…" he gasped, this could not be true, he would and will not accept this!

"Though this is the truth, the brothers Sleep and Death are calling to me since five centuries and with each passing decade their call gets clearer." Iskander said with a small smile, Mitchell needed to understand that soon he would need to let him go, he needed to go his own path, to be the man he should be.

"Then let them call, you have resisted them till now, you can continue doing so the House needs you." Desjardins felt panic cruising through his body, the man who had taught him so much had and is still the one he admires; he could not give up just like that.

"I have served the House for two millennia; it is time that a new generation takes over for they are the ones whom the future belongs to, those who can bring changes. We older people may be wiser, but also tend to live too much in the past and refuse to bend to the changing of times even if it would lead to our own destruction." Iskander continued in a gentle tone as he placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder, he could feel the other trembling as he fought back his anxiety. "It is your generation which needs to take over now while mine rests, we had held all of your hands and now it is time to let go."

* * *

Amos had re-entered his bedroom, he had waited for Set to come to their room, but when the God didn't return he went to look for the other, he was worried because of the ripped open traumatic memories the other had faced during the reading so he didn't even think to reach out for the God with his mind. He had looked up all the palaces the other liked about Brooklyn House, but to no veil so he decided to go back to the room in hopes that Set would be there.

"Set?" he called into the dark bedroom and much to his relief he also received an answer.

"Yes?" come the now female voice as Amos switched the lights on, relieved that Set was there.

"I went looking for you after you didn't return for almost a whole hour since we finished dinner." he told the God while walking over to the other, finally noticing that she was standing in front of the antique full-body mirror, a look of slight embarrassment and happiness on her face, she was already dressed in a tank top and sleeping pants, both burgundy in colour.

"I kind of had a chat with your younger self before coming back here, we happened to meet by accident after I finished talking with Hades." Set replied and Amos looked at her suspiciously when noting the blush on the other's pale cheeks before it become gleeful again and the God grabbed both of his hands, pulling him down so that they were both sitting on the soft carpet of the bedroom. "I want to show you something." she said in excitement which made Amos curious.

"What is it?" the Chief Lector asked, though he felt also glad that the other looked so excited and happy unlike the state he feared Set would be in.

"This." Set said grinning and willed her body to transform into that of a sha, she didn't dare using the storm cloud form because of the baby, but this was fine.

Amos looked on curiously before finally realizing why Set was so excited, it may be that in her human form there is still no visible trace of her pregnancy which should end in three months, even thought Tawaret rarely is wrong on a date of births, but still there should be something to be seen. Now he didn't even need to talk with the Goddess because he could clearly see the swollen belly of the red furred sha sitting in front of him as she wagged her tail happily. As he looked the God's animal form carefully over he could see that Set may be around the fourth month or close to the end of it. Now the thought of really having a child seemed even clearer, even closer and truer.

"May I?" he asked carefully at which amused laughter filled his head.

"_I think we had enough evidence that you had more then greatly contributed to my current state so I don't even know why you ask." _he heard Set laugh in his head as she settled her body in his lap, head resting on his chest while his hand was gently stroking over her baby belly.

"I'm glad that you showed me this." Amos said as his hands continued to gently slide over the soft fur, he felt both happy and excited. He wondered if Tawaret could tell them what the baby's gender was, though leaving it to be a surprise would also not be a bad thing, he was undecided and this was also Set's decision if he wants to know it or not. He was also not sure if he himself wanted to know, on one side it would be good to know to what he needs to ready himself regards the child, but on the other…

"_Whatever our baby will be, you will make a wonderful father." _he heard Set's amused voice in his head as she shifted her body so that her head was now resting on his shoulder, paws placed on his chest.

"You remember that this is a new chance for the both of us." he told the God, his hands unconsciously tightening around the divinity before he felt human hands wrap around his shoulders, Set had shifted back.

"Amos, stop thinking about that person." Set said firmly while tightening her own hold around the man, if she should ever meet that person she would certainly not get away unscratched. "She had been a complet fool, no one who actually _knows_ _you_ would ever think that you would be an unfit parent. You are kind, caring, understanding, gentle and most of all accepting, you try to understand others before judging them." Set said, her eyes closed while shifting her body so that her head was now resting under Amos's chin, arms tightening around her Eye. "You gave me also a chance and tried to understand my reasonings." she said.

"Set" Amos said while looking down at the God, they were heading for the path he wished not to step on.

"I'm fine" the God replied with a smile, but Amos knew that something was different though at least not because of sadness, but the way she gently stroke over his cheek made him shiver, the touch was familiar even though he could not remember it, but nothing could prepare him for the next sentence. "Amos, would you please give me a name?" he froze.

"Set, you know what doing so would mean." he told the other, as the Chief Lector was it important for him to know many things bound to the House of Life and Egypt, her Gods included. The Gods and mortals had not always the strictly '_professional_' or in some cases friendship/sibling like relationship, that had only come later on and the grounds for it were the ground why the idea of their Gods having demigod children had been held of for so long.

In the most ancient times, locked away from the eyes of most magicians - except the Chief Lector, Pharaoh and Scribe -, the Gods of Egypt just like their Greek colleagues had a much closer, in cases intimate relationships with them even though there were no notes about pregnancies and if it were, those Gods kept silent from all of the others. Some relationships went even so far that the divinity offered to their mortal lover to give them a name, this is why those names were called _'Beloved name'_ and held the same strength as one's secret name, but unlike that only the one giving it can take it back and then the name will be erased from even their own minds. Unfortunately, some of those lovers had with time become greedy for power and thus used that name to gain power over the God or Goddess who had trusted them, betraying their trust and so that the only way had been to kill these mortals and the Gods started distancing themselves in the case of intimate feelings. For a God to make such a request carried a deep meaning to it and not only about trust, mostly if the person had already known the other's secret name or glimpsed their shadow. Yes Amos knew that Set trusted him, knowing each of his names after the God had told them to him was already a proof of that and Set was not one who trusts easily. The two of them had a rocky start, but learned to know the other and had gone through a number of things and yes, he admits that he did not mind to sit here and hold the God or the thought of them raising a child together, but he was not sure if the both of them were not misunderstanding the feelings of a strong friendship.

"I know what it means, but I trust you." Set answered back in a determined tone, somehow, it was not easy to explain, but she was sure that this is what she wanted to happen.

"Set, I can't do that." Amos told her in a gentle tone while pushing her a bit away, but continued to explain hurriedly before the other could misunderstand him. "It is not that I don't care about you, but I'm not sure if this is because of the pregnancy that we feel like this and we are not misunderstanding a strong feeling of friendship."

"I know that I don't misunderstand anything Amos, I… I want this." Set answered, she come to this conclusion when Amos's younger counterpart almost kissed her on the balcony, that little incident had made it clear for her about what she had not been sure before.

Amos only looked back at her, he knew how stubborn the other could be, but he also held firmly to his belief that they should not do anything hasty which could carry consequences with it which could strain their relationship. Then he had an idea which could solve the problem without hurting the other's feelings.

"Set, what do say that we wait till the child is born, if even after that you still feel the same I will gladly give you a name." Amos told the God while pulling her again closer. He had also asked for this because if it are truly not some type of hormones which are released unintentionally like in the case of Set's matting session, then this meant that without noticing it the both of them stepped into a deeper form of partnership then they would have ever thought they would find themselves in.

"That is fine." Set answered back before looking up at Amos with a sly grin on her lips. "So, are we going into bed or not?" she asked while Amos blushed.

"What did we talk about a few seconds ago." he exclaimed while trying to get some images out of his head which appeared without his content.

"I remember perfectly, but I doubt that there speaks something against the fact if we sleep beside each other now does it?" she replied with a laugh before the grin returned, Amos really hoped that if they should end up having a daughter that she will not inherit _this _look or he will be tempted to _ha-di_ her suitors. "Or did you have some other plans for tonight?" Set found it really amusing when Amos's blush started deepening so she decided to show mercy. "I was only joking, but we should really sleep now or the both of us will get scolded tomorrow by Tawaret and me later also by Hades when he finds out that I did not immediately follow his advice." Amos could only nod, at the given moment he did not trust his voice, sometimes Set could really be frustrating no matter his form or state.

* * *

After morning come the group gathered again in the attic after a quick breakfast, though one could notice that some things were different since yesterday. Both Ruby and Julius noted how Amos did his best to avoid looking in Set's direction, if he did by accident then he would have a small blush on his cheeks, said man's older version on the other hand looked deep in thought about something, also Desjardins looked troubled and kept glancing every minute at Iskander, the others did not know what was wrong.

"So, who will be reading now?" Ruby asked after everyone had taken their places and Tawaret finished putting up the protective seals.

"It is Sean's turn." Felix said as he picked up the book and handed it to his friend, but before the other boy could start reading Sadie stood up and walked to the end of the couch where her uncle and Set sat.

"Uhm…could you two please move a bit to the side?" she asked the confused pair who complied with her request, after that Sadie sat down and buried her face into Set's hair, her arms around the God.

"Erm…Sadie, what are you doing?" Carter asked his sister in confusion, at least was he not the only one who was completely lost.

"This is the only place I will be safe, I'm staying here for a while." was the blonde's only reply, she had gone through every person in her head and come to the conclusion that only Set would be the one by whom she could sit without much danger. Though she did note that Set was really warm and smelled like sand and rain which should not smell pleasant, she guessed that this was because she was a God.

"What do you mean?" older Julius asked his daughter perplexed while Narmer massaged his forehead, it was too early in the morning for him to be faced with this.

"Let us just start the reading." Hours said, he would be soon in the book.

"Ok, the title is **_A Godly Birthday Party_** "Sean read as suddenly both Isis and Anubis tensed in their thrones while those from the present turned their gazes to Sadie.

"Why do I have the feeling that I know why you decided to sit by Set." Zia said to her friend before sighing, at least she was fine. "Sean continue." she said while both Ruby and Julius exchanged nervous glances.

**_They took Carter to a different dormitory, so I don't know how he slept._**

"We now know the system of how they were set up and to answer the unasked question, I sleep terribly." Carter said, if he counted right then after this there will be one more chapter and he will be faced again with an annoyed and offended Desjardins and his worried parents regards the fact that Amos walked into a trap on that night.

"And something tells me that we will know why." Ruby mumbled to herself while still wondering what was wrong with Amos and Desjardins, in Sadie's case she will know as soon Sean continues.

**_But _****_I_****_ couldn't get a wink._**

**_It would've been hard enough with Zia's comments about passing our tests or dying,_**

"Sorry." Zia told Sadie even though it had been her shabti and not her.

**_but the girls' dormitory just wasn't as posh as Amos's mansion._**

"I don't mind the compliment, but I hope that you have learned now that there is a difference between the dorminities of the Nomes." Amos spoke to his niece who was still clinging to Set, he needed to admit that the scene looked in some way adorable, the girl only nodded her head while still hiding her face in the God's red hair.

Isis meanwhile had her gaze on her Eye, from the title she knew what will be happening in this chapter so she kind of felt hurt that Sadie was the option that she would be in the best care if she sat by her brother. They may be on cases on different options, but because Sadie was still her Eye whenever they become one, this meant that they still had and even bond with each other. She hoped that when the chapter is over that then she will be sitting again beside Walt, it didn't help her mood also that she started remembering the conversation she had before going to bed. Not that she had actually slept much, Nephthys wanted to talk with her and two hours listening to your baby sister talking about her feelings for their brother and some things she _never_ wanted to know about made it hard to rest so adding to that her Eye's decision…

**_The stone walls sweated moisture. Creepy pictures of Egyptian monsters_**

"Erm…Sadie…" Walt was not sure how to talk with his girlfriend seeing how the pictures in the dormitory represent only a few monsters the others were all Gods.

"Hope you didn't mean me dear." Tawaret said in amusement while Horus was busy trying to figure out if there was a picture about him in the girl's dormitory or not.

"We will really need to give them both some education about our world." Ruby told her husband who was busy looking at Desjardins, it was strange that he was still busy glancing at the Chief Lector and not commenting or glaring at him.

**_danced across the ceiling in the torchlight. I got a floating cot to sleep in,_**

Mr. Faust stared blinking at the book; did he really hear right about that the cot was _floating_? On the other hand, why was he even getting surprised anymore about such things seeing how they were sitting here in a room, in the future with Gods and a man who is apparently over two thousand, he wont even mention the ancient Egyptians.

**_and the other girls in training—_****_initiates_****_, Zia had called them—were much younger than me, so when the old dorm matron told them to go to sleep straightaway, they actually _****_obeyed_****_._**

"As if, give them a half an hour and they will be wide awake." Ruby and Zia said at the same time before smiling at each other.

"Is this out of experience?" Amir asked his daughter who blushed under her father's gaze as well as that of Iskander.

"I remember how I tended to wake up after a while." Zia admitted, even though there had been no kids her age group when she was an initiate, but when she was around eight there come three new initiates much younger then her and they did the same.

"One should never believe that if they tell a child to go to bed that they will do that without a word of protest, if they do then that gives a ground for suspicion." Hatshepsut said as she remembered how poor Senemut could be found sleeping in front of her daughter's bedroom door because she tried sneaking out to stroll around the palace after hours.

**_The matron waved her hand and the torches went out. She shut the door behind her, and I could hear the sound of locks clicking._**

"An attempt to at least keep the younger initiates in their rooms, it become needed after some pranks." Iskander said as he remembered some amusing, but also kind of annoying to find and fix incidents.

"I know, we needed some locking spells or alarm spells, but those because of the teenage initiates." Carter groaned, sure he may have been also a teenager only a few years ago, but still in his time he had no time to flirt around or try sneaking of with his girlfriend to kiss… great, he was only twenty two and already sounded like an old man.

"I can imagine your troubles." Iskander said, it had been long ago since he needed to deal with teenager initiates in the First; Julius had been not the type of teen to sneak out of his room to find Ruby.

"Also this seems to stay the same." Ramses said as he remembered how some of his brothers would sneak out of the bedroom to wherever they had a date.

**_Lovely. Imprisoned in a nursery school dungeon._**

There were some amused snorts at this from those from the present, only Sadie would make a comment like that.

**_I stared in the dark until I heard the other girls snoring. A single thought kept bothering me: an urge I just couldn't shake._**

Ruby and Julius exchanged worried looks, they didn't like the sound of this, mostly that Sadie if possible pulled even closer to Set and would soon be in the God's lap if she continues like that.

**_Finally I crept out of bed and tugged on my boots._**

Amos, Walt, Carter and Zia had a frown on their faces, mostly that Walt had noticed how Anubis was shifting around on his throne.

"_Anubis, do you know what Sadie will get into?" _he asked the God who tensed when hearing his Eye's voice in his head.

"_Uhm…kind of yes…" _

"_You know that when you act nervous that it usually means not much good, leave alone giving me some reassurance." _Walt told the God, but he didn't receive another answer, he really wanted to have Sadie beside him, he knew that he should know this part, but didn't remember.

**_I felt my way to the door. I tugged at the handle. Locked, as I suspected. I was tempted to kick it till I remembered what Zia had done in the Cairo Airport broom closet._**

Zia groaned in her seat as Amos gave her an understanding smile.

"Sadie is too much like her mother for her own good." he told the girl while Ruby huffed.

"You are saying it as if it would be a bad thing." Ruby told the older version of her brother-in-law seeing how the younger version was still acting strangely, she wondered what could have happened.

**_I pressed my palm against the door and whispered, "_****_Sahad_****_."_**

Zia shook her head in exasperation, she should have known better, but it was already to late to be mulling about that.

**_Locks clicked. The door swung open. Handy trick._**

"It is not." younger Julius grumbled while looking over at Walt, he needed to talk with his brother if he knew how far their relationship was, or even his older self could hopefully tell him something.

**_Outside, the corridors were dark and empty. Apparently, there wasn't much nightlife in the First Nome._**

"Now is that also over." Carter said which made Iskander smile at hearing this while Desjardins flinched, he was happy that the House was slowly awakening again, but he still fought against the thought that this will happen without Master Iskander being there to lead them.

**_I sneaked through the city back the way we'd come and saw nothing but an occasional cobra slithering across the floor. After the last couple of days, that didn't even faze me. I thought about trying to find Carter,_**

Carter looked at this over to his sister who looked up to give him a small smile and then retreated again she knew that the yellings would soon be starting.

**_but I wasn't sure where they'd taken him, and honestly, I wanted to do this on my own._**

Sadie readied herself for what was about to come as she remembered that there was something other also in this chapter she never wanted for Carter or her dad to know about, while clinging to the God who seemed to have sensed her growing discomfort and put her arm around her, she was glad for that gesture, it calmed her a small bit. Looking up she moved her body so that Set would understand that she wants her to lean closer, she luckily got it and complied while the others watched the young woman whisper something into the God's ear before returning to her original position.

"Sadie wishes that no one interrupts till this is done, she is also sorry for what will be spoken at this point, she does not feel like that anymore, she come to terms with that." Set told the confused group before signalling for Sean that he should read, looking down at the next lines the young initiate understood.

"I kind of agree." he said before reading said lines.

**_After our last argument in New York, I wasn't sure how I felt about my brother._**

Carter blinked at this, when Sadie did this chapter he was not in the room so he had no clue that she said this.

**_The idea that he could be jealous of _****_my_****_ life while he got to travel the world with Dad—please! And he had the nerve to call my life _****_normal_****_? All right, I had a few mates at school like Liz and Emma, but my life was hardly easy._**

The Fausts exchanged nervous glances whit their daughter and son-in-law while Sadie did her best to hide by Set who tightened her hold around her.

**_If Carter made a social faux or met people he didn't like, he could just move on! I had to stay put. I couldn't answer simple questions like "Where are your parents?" or "What does your family do?" or even "Where are you from?"_**

With each question the Kanes and Fausts flinched while the others looked uncomfortable again, Walt needed to even fight the urge to storm to the end of the couch and pull Sadie to him. He did not understand why she had moved away from him because of this chapter.

**_without exposing just how odd my situation was. I was always the _****_different_****_ girl._**

Ruby wanted to tell her daughter that being different was not bad, it made one unique no matter why you are different one should not pay attention to those who don't understand, but they were asked to not interrupt.

**_The mixed-race girl,_**

Some had dark looks on their faces at this.

**_the American who wasn't American, the girl whose mother had died,_**

Julius wrapped his arms around Ruby as he noted how she looked close to tears again; he would find a way to keep them all together, no matter what.

**_the girl with the absent father,_**

Both Juliuses flinched mostly the older felt guilty for putting Sadie through all of this while Osiris tried to console his Eye.

**_the girl who made trouble in class, the girl who couldn't concentrate on her lessons._**

Ruby again shook her head, Sadie should not feel ashamed because of those two things, she was also a troublemaker in school no matter her good grades, she was almost every second day in detention for something or the other.

**_After a while one learns that blending in simply doesn't work. If people are going to single me out, I might as well give them something to stare at._**

Sadie felt a surge of warmth spreading through her body, is felt as if someone had wrapped a soft blanket around her and she knew that it was Set, she did not even wonder why the God was doing this; she had gone through something similar. Amos was the same option for he took Set's free hand into his.

**_Red stripes in my hair? Why not!_**

Sadie wondered if she should put those back tomorrow instead of the blue, helping about this also seemed to help.

**_Combat boots with the school uniform? Absolutely._**

Ruby exchanged a glance with her mother, both of them having a small smile on their lips seeing how Ruby would have also done this.

**_Headmaster says, "I'll have to call your parents, young lady." I say, "Good luck."_**

No one was sure if they should feel at least a bit amused or saddened by the comment.

**_Carter didn't know anything about my life._**

**'****_Now I/he know/s.' _****everyone thought while looking over at the siblings. **

**_But enough of that. The point was, I decided to do this particular bit of exploring alone, and after a few wrong turns, I found my way back to the Hall of Ages._**

Everyone tensed in their seats and Isis looked at her lap guiltily, somehow in retrospect had she the feeling that maybe it was partly her fault what happened on that night.

**_What was I up to, you may ask? I certainly didn't want to meet_**

Sean could not help himself, it was not polite sure, but it sounded funny.

**_Monsieur Evil again_**

Julius groaned again as Desjardins finally looked to somewhere other then the Chief Lector, blinking, he was not sure if he had heard that name right, his mind was kind of in a daze.

**_or creepy old Lord Salamander._**

"Sadie!" her parents exclaimed in panic when Desjardins's face darkened again, but Iskander only laughed in amusement.

"Your grandfather needed almost a week to not misunderstand my name in some kind of way, I think at the end when he finally had it were we already by fifteen different incorrect names. One of them was actually something along the lines of 'Lord Imbecile'." he said in amusement at which both age groups of Kane brothers turned to him in surprise and bewilderment, now they really knew why their father was so adamant for them to know the Chief Lector's name while Sadie managed a small smile.

**_But I _****_did_****_ want to see those images—_**

The temperature suddenly seemed to drop and Sadie held her breath, here it comes.

**_memories_****_, Zia had called them._**

**_I pushed open the bronze doors._**

There were some sharp intakes of breath, dread was slowly creeping up on most of them.

**_Inside, the hall seemed deserted. No balls of fire floated around the ceiling. No glowing hieroglyphs. But images still shimmered between the columns, washing the hall with strange, multicolored light._**

**_I took a few nervous steps._**

Sadie heard her mother mumbling the word '_no'_ like a mantra, she now knew how stupid and reckless she had been and would have liked to make it undone, but she could not. Carter was close to do the same, but he felt numb that Sadie had done something so foolish, he didn't even notice when Walt suddenly glared at Anubis, he had figured out why the God was acting strangely.

**_I wanted another look at the Age of the Gods._**

"No you don't!" her family snapped in panic.

"Uh…that is actually the most dangerous one to touch." Thoth said carefully, but shut up by the glares he received from everyone.

**_On our first trip through the hall, something about those images had shaken me._**

Isis swallowed hard, soon she would know if it had been rally her fault on that night that Sadie almost died, she gave a small thankful look to the old Chief Lector for having stepped in and helped Sadie to return before it was too late.

**_I knew Carter thought I'd gone into a dangerous trance,_**

"Not thought, you did." Carter told his sister, he was worried about her, when she had been thrown during the fight against one of the tapestries he had been horrified, but this was much worse then at that time was it not her free decision to touch one of those, but this had been.

"I'm really starting to see why she picked me." Set whispered to Amos, she guessed that she knew which birthday party this was and it wont be good hearing about it, she had been on that day on a path for revenge, but not only for her lost father figure, slowly her gaze drifted over to the four on the smaller couch and Amos tightened his hold on her hand, he also had a guess what will come.

**_and Zia had warned that the scenes would melt my brain; but I had a feeling she was just trying to scare me off._**

"Sadie." Zia tried to talk to the other, but she was still hiding by Set, though she was sure that she heard a mumbled sorry while Ruby and Julius groaned.

**_I felt a connection to those images,_**

Isis flinched, now she was sure that it had been her unwanted influence which led to this almost tragedy and remembering what all will happen in that memory will she tonight also deal with a heart broken Nephthys. She will need to try getting her to move on because she had the feeling that Set would definitely never return to her, the way her brother's hand was still held tightly by Amos somehow just seemed to carry a deeper massage to it.

**_like there was an answer within—a vital piece of information I needed._**

Everyone was still looking at Sadie, those who knew what she had found out was important, but still the price would have been too high.

"Sean, continue." Set told the boy as the minutes started dragging on, her hold tightening around the young woman beside her.

"Ye..yes…" Sean said finally snapping out of his stupor.

**_I stepped off the carpet and approached the curtain of golden light._**

Ruby was clinging to her husband and the only ground Walt was not rushing to his girlfriend was because Amos had his hand on the young man's arm, the others also looked tense and worried.

**_I saw sand dunes shifting in the wind, storm clouds brewing,_**

Set allowed herself a small smile at the mentioning of her beloved desert and one of her power spheres.

**_crocodiles sliding down the Nile._**

Hatshepsut smiled at this, she really adored crocodiles, when she had been young she once sneaked a baby crocodile into her rooms and took care of it till she was found out, but luckily was it one of her father's more nicer advisers who took it to one of Lord Sobek's temples where it found a good home.

**_I saw a vast hall full of revelers. I touched the image._**

"NO!" Sadie heard her family and boyfriend scream in panic.

"Do you know what could have happened to you?" Ruby asked her daughter, she was panicked, those memories would be the strongest in the Hall and so touching them was also the most dangerous.

"Sadie, in the light of all that you had experienced I though that you would understand that in this world not heading a warning could cost your life." Zia told the other in both shock and suppressed anger.

"That was a terribly dumb idea, you are lucky that you have survived it." Carter told his sister when Set spoke up.

"Everyone keep it in, I think she knows what she had done and which consequences could have happened, be happy that she does not have any residual damage from it." she told everyone with a stern look on her face, the scolding would not lead to anything seeing that the three time periods united here, in two she was not even born yet and in the other case was this seven years ago.

"You are right, this was long ago and we should be happy that she is fine and at least learned from the mistake." older Julius spoke up with a heavy sigh while Sadie gave Set a thankful look, she had not counted on a supporting speech only that the God would be the only one who would not scold her, but she was really glad for it, she had really learned from that mistake.

Isis watched the scene uncomfortably, she was grateful that Set stepped in for Sadie even without knowing that it had been not fully the girl's fault, but there was the fact that it was Set who stepped in for her Eye. Anubis meanwhile was also looking at his father and knew that his mother was doing the same, but he did not dare to look in her direction. Yesterday before going to bed he had accidentally heard a small part of the conversation between his mother and aunt and in that small part he had heard her doubts regards giving up on him to keep him save from his father's bad influence. He tried not to think about it, but sadly he was forced to do it since finding out that he will have a half-sibling and the things he is finding out form these books and the conversations during this reading…

…he did not know which his father's true personality was.

"Sean." Alyssa poked the other that he should continue when it become clear that no one will say anything more, though it looked that Sadie would stay for a bit longer beside Set.

**_And I was in the palace of the gods._**

"Now we were there more then one can count." Carter mumbled while glancing over to where his sister was sitting, he was still worried and a bit angry, but he also agreed that he should be happy that both of Sadie's encounters with those memories ended so that his sister was still well.

**_Huge beings swirled around me, changing shape from human to animal to pure energy._**

"Uh…" Sadie wanted to ask about the last part as she looked up at Set seeing how she was the closest God to her at the moment.

"That was not our pure form, but another form we can take up, those on the other side can even take up an elemental form if they are too panicked." Set whispered to her at which she nodded in understanding.

**_On a throne in the center of the room sat a muscular African man in rich black robes._**

All Gods shifted in their thrones, they now were really sure which scene that was and it won't be a happy one.

**_He had a handsome face and warm brown eyes. His hands looked strong enough to crush rocks._**

"That would be Osiris." older Julius said in an amused tone as he felt said God's embarrassment regards the compliments about his looks while Isis on the other hand nodded wholeheartedly, Set on the other hand rolled her eyes and Sadie felt a grin tug on her lips about how she will react to be compared to her brother.

**_The other gods celebrated round him. Music played—a sound so powerful that the air burned. At the man's side stood a beautiful woman in white, her belly swollen as if she were a few months pregnant. Her form flickered; at times she seemed to have multicolored wings._**

Isis smiled at the way she was described though she knew that there will be some unflattering comments towards her later on in the books if her occasional arguments with Sadie were any indications.

**_Then she turned my direction and I gasped. She had my mother's face._**

"Huh?" come some of the confused reactions at this when Thoth spoke up, an intrigued look on his face.

"Hmm…it could be that the young woman who had been from the family which's line later become the royal family to which your mother belongs to." Thoth explained knowing whom had been at that time Isis's host and that she had been not related by blood to her husband unlike some of the later queens.

"That could be correct." Carter said seeing how Narmer had lived many thousand years ago and him and his dad had similar features as him, mostly in the profile view, though if this was true then the fact that their parents married had also a deeper meaning to it, somehow he could not shake this feeling of.

**_She didn't seem to notice me. In fact, none of the gods did,_**

"As you were told, this is a memory so they will not react to your presence." Horus pointed out though he was curious why Anubis seemed so uncomfortable.

**_until a voice behind me said, "Are you a ghost?"_**

"Oh Gods no!" Sadie suddenly yelled in panic before throwing her arms around Set again and hid her face, now that she was over the scolding part she remembered another thing, a really embarrassing thing which also stood in here.

"What is it this time?" Julian asked trying to remember while by the thrones Anubis raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Sadie?" Ruby asked her daughter in confusion when Sean suddenly broke out into hysterical laughter.

"O…oh my Gods…how could I forget about this one, no…no wonder she returned into hiding again." he gasped out and took a few deep breaths to clam himself so that he could continue reading, but his tone was still filled with amusement.

**_I turned and saw a good-looking boy of about sixteen, dressed in black robes. _**

Walt raised an eyebrow as he first looked at Sadie then at Anubis, he had a good guess who was there and of course he perfectly knew how Sadie felt towards the God in the past, they kind of started a three-person relationship for a few years, then she decided to pick him and Anubis freely stepped down. The two of them had talked about that often seeing how they were still sharing a body with each other and there was no rivalry between them.

The others were also glancing in the God of Death and Funeral's direction; even the other Gods seeing that they knew that Anubis even thought already born at that time had been still a small child and on that day was with a nanny for that night so it was impossible that he was there.

**_His complexion was pale, but he had lovely brown eyes like the man on the throne. His black hair was long and tousled—rather wild, but it worked for me._**

Nephthys hung her head as she bit back a depressed sigh, that look with the red eyes instead of brown ones had also worked for her, but she lost all of her chances, he looked to content at the side of his Eye, even more since yesterday.

"Anubis, why are you there?" Horus asked his cousin blinking at which the other blushed, he didn't want to admit the ground, but everyone was starring at him, except his mother who was looking sadly into her lap.

"I…I was a bit curious about my parents." he finally admitted which made Nephthys look at her son, Set did the same, but she turned her head away within seconds and Sadie winched the chapter in which she actually talks to Anubis will be not easy on either Set or Nephthys and with the current situation, godly family drama here they come.

"Uh…may I ask a question?" Ramses held up his hand carefully, he remembered yesterday that they were informed that Lord Set was really the father of Lord Anubis, but there was still something bothering him, when he got the nods he voiced his concern. "I know that we were informed about Lord Anubis's actually parentage, but Sadie herself had also pointed out in the book that he has the same eyes as Lord Osiris."

"That is because my sister and I have the same eyes," Osiris said after switching with Julius so that everyone could see that he was right, the oldest and youngest sibling were really sharing similar eyes "in any other way comes my nephew in looks after my brother." he finished in amusement at the many shocked looks he was receiving, mostly from said nephew.

"That is true, Anubis has really a remarkable similarity in his look to Set." Isis said sighing, this was the ground why she held some distance to the child and the fact that she was expecting Horus had she even an excuse for doing thus.

"Sean, continue." Amos said in hopes that everyone would stop gaping like fish at this revelation, he thought that it had been perfectly clear, but of course to note similarities by a person you need to actually look at them.

**_He tilted his head, and it finally occurred to me that he'd asked me a question._**

Amos and Nephthys looked amused, Set also tended to do that when he doesn't get an immediate answer for a question he asked.

**_I tried to think of something to say._**

Set felt Sadie stiffen again while Sean took three deep breaths before finally reading the lines which had made him laugh some minutes ago.

**_Excuse me? Hello? Marry me?_**

There was a deep silence before Anubis stared spluttering, his face taking on the same shade like his father's hair, the others needed a few minutes to snap out of their shock.

"WHAT!" the younger version of Julius yelled while some of those from the present broke out laughing because they knew that the two dated for a while, even Walt could laugh about this seeing how he rarely saw Anubis this embarrassed.

"Do…don't worry dad…they…they aren't dating." Carter laughed and didn't feel like adding that she will only start doing that at the end of the third book and it will be in a way a three-way relationship. _'Poor dad, he will have a heart attack.' _

"No wonder you freaked out a few minutes ago." Jaz said giggling while Ruby was rubbing her husband's back, her eyes gleaming with mirth, this was a typical _young-girl-meets-good-looking-boy _case.

"Really, you should have asked the later and give him a heart attack." Horus said grinning in amusement before needing to dodge a new boot flying in the direction of his face.

"_Sean, read or I will feed your heart to Ammit." _Anubis threatened in the boy's mind who immediately complied with the order and raised his voice to drown out the noise of laughter.

**_Anything would've done. But all I could manage was a shake of the head._**

Sadie was sure that the heat she was currently feeling was not due to Set's powers, but because of her own embarrassment, she really wanted this chapter to be over.

_"_**_Not a ghost, eh?" he mused. "A _****_ba_****_ then?" He gestured towards the throne. "Watch, but do not interfere."_**

"I thought those were memories?" Amir asked in confusion, how could she interfere with a memory.

"Yes they are and if she would try to interfere with something that happens in that memory it can easily happen that it draws her in and she would not be able to leave again." Iskander explained to the other man who nodded, Sadie already knew this as did Zia.

"At least you listened to that advice." Ruby said sighing in relief, the last thing she wanted for her daughter to be stuck in a memory for as long as the Hall stands.

**_Somehow, I wasn't interested in watching the throne so much,_**

Cue more snickers while both Sadie and Anubis blushed even deeper.

**_but the boy in black dissolved into a shadow and disappeared, leaving me with no further distraction._**

Sadie groaned while Set patted her on the head when the snickers started again because of her comment.

_"_**_Isis," said the man on the throne._**

**_The pregnant woman turned towards him and beamed. "My lord Osiris. Happy birthday."_**

"Not for long." the Gods mumbled to themselves.

_"_**_Thank you, my love. And soon we shall mark the birth of our son—Horus, the great one! His new incarnation shall be his greatest yet._**

"So, you were also at fault in feeding his ego even before his rebirth." Set said to this blushing brother while Horus looked pleased.

**_He shall bring peace and prosperity to the world."_**

"We are still waiting for that to happen." Set grumbled while ignoring Narmer's glare, she really had no intentions to deal with him at this moment.

**_Isis took her husband's hand. Music kept playing around them, gods celebrating, the very air swirling in a dance of creation._**

"The air was filled through the power of Ma'at." Thoth said while smiling at his wife's name.

"Though much weaker as in the time of her father." Set said while some looked at her blinking.

"Father?"

"Of course, Ma'at is not only a disciple, but she is also a daughter of Lord Ra and my wife." Thoth explained it to them.

"Nice to know." Carter whispered to Zia and Walt.

"Agreed, if you look at it Ma'at is Ra's daughter who is married to in a way Set's and Horus's son from which the former is also kind of like her adopted-brother and her grandmother/sister-in-law forced her father to retreat from his throne…yes the usual hard to follow godly family line." Walt added in at which the other two nodded their heads, the Gods had it not easy with their family trees so no wonder that they mostly tended to ignore it to see with whom they are related if wanting to start a relationship.

**_Suddenly the palace doors blew open. A hot wind made the torches sputter._**

Isis looked annoyed while Osiris suddenly tensed as he remembered something that happened on the day before that party and bowed his head in guilt, in the end it seemed that Set had on that day more then one ground to go against him.

**_A man strode into the hall. He was tall and strong, almost a twin to Osiris,_**

Osiris smiled weakly at this, but even that disappeared from his face when he saw Set turn away and shake her head as if to deny it.

"As Sadie said, you guys share some similar aspects." Jaz told the Demon Days who nodded reluctantly.

**_but with dark red skin, blood-colored robes, and a pointed beard. He looked human, except when he smiled. Then his teeth turned to fangs._**

Older Amos did his best to keep his blush at bay, after their heads cleared had he noted that those teeth were certainly at usage during their three days long liaison.

**_His face flickered—sometimes human, sometimes strangely wolflike._**

"At least you dropped the 'evil bunny' idea." Set whispered to Sadie who looked up at her blushing.

**_I had to stifle a scream, because I'd seen that wolfish face before._**

**_The dancing stopped. The music died._**

**_Osiris rose from his throne. "Set," he said in a dangerous tone. "Why have you come?"_**

The Osiris of the present flinched, guilt overflowing his soul which made Julius worried for the other, he did not understand what was wrong because the guilt was much stronger then if you happen to talk to harshly to a sibling.

"Set… I'm terribly sorry… I…", but Set held up her hand, eyes glinting in a cold light, both Amos and Sadie felt her tense, but only the former knew the ground for the anger.

"Sorry does not cut it Osiris and you know that perfectly well." she growled and the God bowed his head in shame, Set was right about that, now another thing which a simple apology can't make right.

"What is it now?" Horus asked curiously because of the way Osiris and Set were acting, mostly his father/brother, but neither answered to him and Amos hurriedly gestured for Sean to continue.

**_Set laughed, and the tension in the room broke. Despite his cruel eyes, he had a wonderful laugh_**

Sadie blushed while Anubis started spluttering so he did not see his mother nodding her head in agreement to that statement.

"Well, if she liked the son who come in looks after his father and also in some personality traits according to Amos." Carter whispered to Zia and Walt, he was still amused about his sister embarrassing herself in the book, but he was also worried bout the exchange they had witnessed a few seconds ago.

**—****_nothing like the screeching he'd done at the British Museum._**

Set huffed, but her body was still tense.

**_It was carefree and friendly, as if he couldn't possible mean any harm._**

Both Isis and Horus snorted and Narmer rolled his eyes, as if.

_"_**_I come to celebrate my brother's birthday, of course!" he exclaimed._**

"You don't know how hard it was to not make some type of sarcastic remark when I sad this and to hold up that smile." Set grumbled, it had been hard, Osiris dared to question her as if she would have no place in the throne hall, when it had been the place she had spent most of her childhood at and all this after what he dared to do the day before.

"You would make a brilliant actor." Jaz told the God who gave her a small smile, but it lasted only for seconds.

**_"And I bring entertainment!"_**

"You can't deny that." Sadie said at which everyone who knew what happened on that day stared at her with wide eyes.

"Excuse me?" asked most of the Gods while Set looked at the blond curiously.

"You need to admit that what the Gods on the party did was in a way amusing and on one part also rather pathetic." Sadie said with a shrug, looking back at it watching a large bunch of all powerful divine beings fighting who could try out a sarcophagus had some amusing aspects to it.

"Uh…actually in a way it was." Anubis said unsurely.

**_He gestured behind him. Four huge men with the heads of wolves marched into the room, carrying a jewel-encrusted golden coffin._**

Both Osiris and Julius flinched.

**_My heart began to race. It was the same box Set had used to imprison my dad at the British Museum._**

"I hated seeing that again." Osiris mumbled, but he was still feeling guilty.

**_No!_****_ I wanted to scream. _****_Don't trust him!_**

"Please don't interfere." Ruby pleaded to her daughter.

**_But the assembled gods oohed and aahed,_**

"I was curious if I had come late enough for all of them to get drunk enough for be so idiotic." Set said while some of the others had also strange looks on their faces, so even agreed with Set's idea that the others had been already drunk when she arrived.

**_admiring the box, which was painted with gold and red hieroglyphs, trimmed with jade and opals. The wolf-men set down the box, and I saw it had no lid. The interior was lined with black linen._**

_"_**_This sleeping casket," Set announced, "was made by my finest craftsmen, using the most expensive materials. Its value is beyond measure. The god who lies within, even for a night, will see his powers increase tenfold! His wisdom will never falter. His strength will never fail._**

"I'm as much as I hate it also starting to see sense in Set's idea that everyone had already managed to get drunk." Isis grumbled, just how much of an idiot needs one to be to buy this story, even if they value strength, Thoth blushed at this, he had been also one of those who had believed that story.

"So…they really believed that story?" Carter asked his sister.

"You would not believe how much though you will hear it soon." Sadie told her brother.

**_It is a gift"—he smiled slyly at Osiris—"for the _****_one and only_****_ god who fits within perfectly!"_**

"And you did not get his implication?" Isis asked her husband accusingly who was still busy staring into his lap.

"I did, but a part of me I had denied wanted to accept my punishment." Osiris said in a grave tone as he tried not to look at the four of the antique or more precisely two of them.

"My Lord Osiris you did nothing punishable." Narmer spoke up to the God who turned to him flinching, his brown eyes filled with guilt.

"Though I did and on that day was it not only the fact that I had taken the throne from Lord Ra, but something other." he answered back as both Isis and Nephthys tensed in their thrones as they realized what Osiris meant, Tawaret also hung her head, Set had meet up with her the next day and told her everything. "Sean continue." Osiris said finally, he wanted this chapter to end.

**_I wouldn't have queued up first, but the gods surged forward._**

"See." Sadie said while the others blinked.

**_They pushed each other out of the way to get at the golden coffin. Some climbed in but were too short. Others were much too big. Even when they tried to change their shapes, the gods had no luck, as if the magic of the box were thwarting them._**

Set snorted. "I spent two months doing those spells on it, but I need to admit that I would have done more had an incident not made me act much sooner then planned." both Osiris and Isis flinched at hearing this.

"What incident?" Julian asked curiously, but Isis waved to Sean that he should continue.

**_No one fit exactly. Gods grumbled and complained as others, anxious to try, pushed them to the floor._**

"I'm starting to see what you meant regards the entertainment part." Ruby stated blinking.

"Yep."

**_Set turned to Osiris with a good-natured laugh. "Well, brother, we have no winner yet. Will you try? Only the best of the gods can succeed."_**

Osiris held in a sigh while placing his hand on Isis's so that she would stay put on her place, as said he deserved that punishment and he did not mind ruling the Underworld.

**_Osiris's eyes gleamed. Apparently he wasn't the god of brains, _**

Osiris felt his jaw drop as Julius patted him on the back while apologizing for the comment.

"Sadie!" the others exclaimed while Set finally let out a little at that comment and smiled down at Sadie who was now leaning against her.

"Sorry Osiris, but you kind of gave me that as a first impression." she answered back grinning sheepishly at the God.

**_because he seemed completely taken in by the box's beauty. All the other gods looked at him expectantly, and I could see what he was thinking: if he fit in the box, what a brilliant birthday present. Even Set, his wicked brother, would have to admit that he was the rightful king of the gods._**

"In my eyes it will be always Lord Ra and no one else." Set said firmly, she tolerated Horus on the throne, but will never accept his as a ruler.

The others meanwhile either shifted in their seats, looked slightly stunned at the declaration of loyalty or were in denial like Narmer.

**_Only Isis seemed troubled. She laid her hand on her husband's shoulder. "My lord, do not. Set does not bring presents."_**

The magicians of the present, mostly the Kanes and their partners shifted slightly in their seats.

"Well, he is kind of really good with picking the right present for every occasion." Carter admitted, it had actually been Set who helped him pick the present he had given Zia for her birthday.

"I was trying to make a point there." Isis said before looking at Sean that he should continue.

_"_**_I am offended!" Set sounded genuinely hurt._**

"I was thinking about the two grounds I was there for that to work out." Set admitted in a bitter tone while everyone wondered what the other ground could have been beside clearing Ra's throne from Osiris.

_"_**_Can I not celebrate my brother's birthday? Are we so estranged that I cannot even apologize to the king?"_**

"Yes." replied Isis, Horus and Set at the same time which made Osiris and Nephthys flinch again while the others looked uncomfortable, tolerance was not the same as trying to be siblings again.

**_Osiris smiled at Isis. "My dear, it is only a game. Fear nothing."_**

"Yes, right." Isis snorted, oh yes he was soo right with that.

**_He rose from his throne. The gods applauded as he approached the box._**

"**_All hail Osiris!" Set cried._**

"It was good that I have not eaten before going there or I would have felt sick." Set mumbled to herself.

**_The king of the gods lowered himself into the box, and when he glanced in my direction, just for a moment, he had my father's face._**

"Huh?" almost everyone asked in confusion when Ashkender suddenly let out a bitter laugh, he had observed the reactions since Sadie stepped into the memory carefully and the way how Lord Set reacted when they arrived, now he knew for sure.

"Brother?" Narmer asked the other who gave him a sad smile.

"You did not figure it out till now Narmer, looking at the dating from where that memory is from and the fact that Lord Osiris's host reminded Sadie on her father who is your descendant. You had been at that time Lord Osiris's host and I'm having a good guess what the other ground for Lord Set's anger was." Ashkender said with a bitter grin, in a way had he always known deep down that for his believes would his brother not hesitate to even go over a relative, but he felt no anger because of it. "Did you know that I continue since a while a letter correspondence with one of Lord Set's high priests? If till now not then at that time you surely knew and did good of your promise to stop me from joining." he told his brother who starred at him in horror while the others also palled, it seems that they will find out why the Gods flinched when spotting Narmer and his brother.

"He found out, we were bonded since a year at that time and went after you with around twenty of the best guards." Osiris said in a heavy tone, he remembered finding them talking not far from a small oasis in the desert, through Isis's request had Nephthys made sure that her husband would not be able to notice the prayer from his priest till it was too late for the two men.

"Tche, twenty one heavily weaponed soldiers, one of them hosting a God against two and you even made so nicely sure that I don't notice the prayers for help till the only thing I found were two battered corpses on sand painted crimson with blood and then you go having a happy birthday party the next day on a throne your wife unrightfully stole." Set hissed at her brother and the now deadly pale king, the others were torn between looking horrified or also angry, that assault really was unfair.

"I'm sorry Lord Set that my plan had cost you one of your priests." Ashkender said, glad that even if he should fail that at least one of their blood would follow the other God and show that there was more to him then people think.

"I was angered because both of your deaths, you had made a good impression on my followers and even thought you never made it to the initiations ceremony they saw you as one of them." Set told the man who nodded his head, those words meant much to him, they pushed the hollowness back.

"A…" Narmer tired to talk to his brother, but he could not get the words out, Ashkender had always been beside him, encouraged him and had always good strategies, that he had won was highly contributed to his brother, the thought that he would be the one to slay him because he so stubbornly held onto his decision.

"Could this be meant to make some see the things they refused to acknowledge in the past?" Walt whispered to Zia and Carter who felt still terrible from what they had found out.

"Could be and now I understand why Set was so angry when seeing Narmer." Carter said in a feint tone, in a way was it interesting to know that his parents families were tied together since so long ago, but he also felt terrible from the knowledge that his ancestor had murdered his own brother only because he tried to help him.

Finally Felix nudged Sean that he should continue after catching the eyes of his ancestor, he understood that they need to continue or they will be not able to at least distance themselves somewhat from their new bothersome knowledge.

"It is only shortly past breakfast and we are again in the knowledge of a painful truth." Cleo whispered to Leonid who pulled her closer, he knew how she felt.

**_No!_****_ I thought again. _****_Don't do it!_**

**_But Osiris lay down. The coffin fit him exactly._**

**_A cheer went up from the gods, but before Osiris could rise, Set clapped his hands. A golden lid materialized above the box and slammed down on top of it._**

Osiris bowed his head again, he had deserved his punishment.

**_Osiris shouted in rage, but his cries were muffled._**

He had deserved what come then from that murderer on had Narmer pursued Set's followers even more and caused them much harm.

**_Golden latches fastened around the lid. The other gods surged forward to intervene—even the boy in black I'd seen earlier reappeared—_**

Anubis dropped his head, at that time he had not known all of his father's reasons, it really bothered him that no matter how often he thinks that he had finally figured out his father he finds out something new which shatters his hypothesis. Isis also flinched; this had been when she started to realize that Lord Ra's prophecy was started coming true.

**_but Set was faster. He stamped his foot so hard, the stone floor trembled. The gods toppled over each other like dominoes. The wolf-men drew their spears, and the gods scrambled away in terror._**

"And that proved to me that Osiris was an unfit ruler." Set spat, she had been so disgusted by that pathetic sight.

"How many Gods were present?" Shelby asked those who were there.

"Almost all of them were present and I had not brought more soldiers then those mentioned." Set said while the others blinked at that book.

"Uhm…in that case Osiris don't take that as an offence, but that really sounds pathetic from them." Carter said while the God nodded, as said he preferred ruling over the Underworld.

**_Set said a magic word, and a boiling cauldron appeared out of thin air._**

Clue flinches while Isis cursed herself that because of her realization she had been like frozen to her place.

**_It poured its contents over the coffin—molten lead, coating the box, sealing it shut, probably heating the interior to a thousand degrees._**

More flinches.

_"_**_Villain!" Isis wailed. She advanced on Set and began to speak a spell, but Set held up his hand. Isis rose from the floor, clawing at her mouth, her lips pressed as if an invisible force were suffocating her._**

"If you want to attack then do that right away." Set told her, still angry before shrugging. "I don't even know why I tell you this, but my plan was to knock you out and put you in a place where it would take you a whole millennia to escape."

"Huh?" come some of the confused questions, why would Set only do that? Though they also saw that they would not receive any answers from the God.

_"_**_Not today, lovely Isis," Set purred. "Today, I am king. And your child shall never be born!"_**

"There is actually a binding spell which stops a pregnancy from ending, I had always wondered why Lord Ra never used it on Nut, well before being told that he was testing her." Thoth spoke up suddenly, the others could only carefully nod at this.

**_Suddenly, another goddess—a slender woman in a blue dress—_**

Nephthys bowed her head, she didn't want to hear about one of her many betrayals towards Set, it also didn't help that she had seen her ex-husband lean against Amos.

**_charged out of the crowd. "Husband, no!"_**

"Now ex-husband." Set mumbled, but she was heard.

"Huh, you two are not married anymore?" younger Julius asked in confusion while from the corner of his eyes he saw Amos blush again.

"Yes, we are." Nephthys said before kicking Horus again in the shin.

"I did not know that Gods could separate like that." come it surprisingly from Desjardins.

"It is a bit complicated with the marriage bond between Gods so in a way if they want something one calls in modern terms a divorce, then they need to have a strong reasoning for that and ask either the current ruler or another powerful or older generation divinity to sever it." Thoth explained to the others. "Meaning both are now single." he finished while Ramses looked over at Tawaret, Narmer was still frozen and Hatshepsut was consoling Ashkender whom she found to be an interesting and good person.

"I really don't know from where everyone got this absurdity that I'm married to him." Tawaret told the ruler in an answer to his unspoken question.

"That is kind of true, I was only once married to one person from whom I'm now divorced." Set said while tightening her hold around Amos's hand which made the man fight against his blush.

**_She tackled Set, who momentarily lost his concentration. _**

"Who would not." Set huffed while his ex-wife flinched.

**_Isis fell to the floor, gasping. The other goddess yelled, "Flee!"_**

Isis gave a small smile to her little sister, but she also felt saddened by the way she looked it was not easy seeing the other like that, she would really need to help her find someone other.

**_Isis turned and ran._**

**_Set rose. I thought he would hit the goddess in blue,_**

"He never did that." Nephthys sighed, no matter how often she went against him he had never raised his hand against her.

**_but he only snarled. "Foolish wife! Whose side are you on?"_**

"I don't know till to this day why I even asked that question." Set said in a thoughtful tone as Nephthys flinched again, it felt as if she would have been hit by a whip.

**_He stamped his foot again, and the golden coffin sank into the floor._**

"It would have been dumb to leave the coffin there when mother was still present." Anubis mumbled to himself so that no one hears him.

**_Set raced after Isis. At the edge of the palace, Isis turned into a small bird of prey and soared into the air. Set sprouted demon's wings and launched himself in pursuit._**

**_Then suddenly _****_I_****_ was the bird._**

Ruby whimpered while Isis flinched again, the memory made her emotional and because this part was about her she had dragged her Eye into this and she was almost caught up in the memory. The others were also pale and Sadie pulled again closer to Set, she hated the renewed realization how close she was to dying becasue of her own attidute.

**_I was Isis, flying desperately over the Nile. I could sense Set behind me—closing. Closing._**

**_You must escape_****_, the voice of Isis said in my mind. _****_Avenge Osiris. Crown Horus king!_**

Isis bowed her head as some of the others glared at her.

"You know that instead of commenting your little plans you could I don't know, pull your host out from the memory?" Anubis asked his aunt testily and again he remembered the question he had asked himself on occasions, _'did his mother the right thing to give him over to her siblings?' _Lord Osiris was a wonderful person to grow up with, but his aunt seemed much colder towards him.

**_Just when I thought my heart would burst,_**

Everyone flinched and Isis bit at her tongue so that she could feel a metallic taste in her mouth, for someone who had so many long term host in the past was she really terrible with keeping them safe.

**_I felt a hand on my shoulder. The images evaporated._**

Everyone looked relieved at this, but Sadie tensed and looked over at Carter, signalling to him that he would better put his arms back around his girlfriend. Luckily he got the message, but looked slightly confused about the why.

**_The old master, Iskander,_**

Ruby immediately jumped up from her sitting spot, well as fast as a pregnant woman could, and hugged the old Chief Lector.

"So Sadie got his name correct at the third time." Felix whispered to Sean before the other continued reading, if for noting else then to make Zia be faster over the chapter in which her father-figure was alive for the last time.

**_stood next to me, his face pinched with concern._**

Iskander nodded his head, he was sure that his other self had been worried that he had come to late.

**_Glowing hieroglyphs danced round him._**

_"_**_Forgive the interruption," he said in perfect English. "But you were almost dead."_**

"That was a terrible joke Master." Desjardins told the old man while Sadie snorted, now she could laugh about that and she saw a twinkle of amusement by a good number of people.

**_That's when my knees turned to water, and I lost consciousness._**

**_When I awoke, I was curled at Iskander's feet on the steps below the empty throne. We were alone in the hall, which was mostly dark except for the light from the hieroglyphs that always seemed to glow around him._**

Those from the present tried to hide their sad smiles knowing that this was not the case anymore.

_"_**_Welcome back," he said. "You're lucky you survived."_**

Desjardins shook his head again at that comment while Julius and Ruby were just happy that their daughter was fine and not in the danger anymore that she gets trapped in that memory and dies.

**_I wasn't so sure. My head felt like it had been boiled in oil._**

"That is a normal feeling after such an experience." Thoth said when he noticed the glared directed at him.

"Not helping." Jaz told the God who smiled sheepishly back at them.

"Sorry."

_"_**_I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to—"_**

_"_**_Look at the images? And yet you did. Your _****_ba_****_ left your body and entered the past. Hadn't you been warned?"_**

Her family nodded their heads vehemently and those from the past didn't even know that Sadie will in the future get again into contact with one of those tapestries, but that will not be out of her free will.

_"_**_Yes," I admitted. "But... I was drawn to the pictures."_**

Isis flinched again._ "I'm sorry Sadie." _

"_Huh? What are you talking about Isis?" _Sadie asked curiously after hearing the Goddess voice in her head.

"_The fact that you were drawn to those images was my fault, I did not do it with intent even I have only realized it now after re-hearing this all again." _she admitted, the two of them tend to clash, mostly that she had developed a type of liking for Set, and she did some things which were not good for Sadie, but that didn't mean that she did not love the other.

"_Well, that is kind of an explaining for those happenings." _Sadie answered back to her, not exactly sure if she should be annoyed with the Goddess or not, but decided for the later. _"Beside that, this was years ago and you did not know back then so let's forget about this, ok Isis?" _

"_Ye…yes, thank you Sadie." _Isis answered back; she had expected the young woman to yell at her like at that time she stepped in on her date with her nephew.

"_I can't forever act like an immature kid now can I and these books certainly show how I was back then. Beside that I'm still your Eye." _Sadie answered back with a shrug before turning her attention back to the book; they were nearing the heart break, poor Zia.

_"_**_Mmm_****_." Iskander stared into space, as if remembering something from long ago._**

Said man nodded, he was sure that he did seeing how this was not a _once-in-the-life-time_ situation, curiosity was largely a part of the human nature.

_"_**_They _****_are_****_ hard to resist."_**

_"_**_You speak perfect English," I noticed._**

There were a few snickers at Sadie's comment.

**_Iskander smiled. "How do you know I'm speaking English? Perhaps you are speaking Greek."_**

**_I hoped he was kidding,_**

"Well, soon we will be learning to speak that." Sadie laughed with some of the others which made the old man smile.

**_but I couldn't tell. He seemed so frail and warm, and yet... it was like sitting next to a nuclear reactor._**

Everyone who knew the old Chief Lector nodded their heads in agrement, that was an apt way to describe the man and the feeling you had around her.

**_I had a feeling he was full of more danger than I wanted to know._**

More nods of agreement.

_"_**_You're not really _****_that_****_ old, are you?" I asked. "I mean, old enough to remember Ptolemaic times?"_**

Desjardins shook her head, but at least she now got the Master's name right while Mr. Faust leaned somewhat ahead in the chair he was sitting in.

_"_**_I am _****_exactly_****_ that old, my dear. I was born in reign of Cleopatra VII."_**

And he leaned back immediately while resisting the urge to groan.

_"_**_Oh, please."_**

_"_**_I assure you, it's true. It was my sorrow to behold the last days of Egypt,_**

Ramses and Hatshepsut both gave the man sympathetic looks, they knew that this must not have been easy on him.

**_before that foolhardy queen lost our kingdom to the Romans._**

"She tried to do her best, but we were doomed." Isis said in a sad tone, on that day the last part of Lord Ra's prophecy had come true.

**_I was the last magician to be trained before the House went underground._**

Iskander nodded his head, it had been hard times when they needed to hide away from the light of the sun, but somehow he had always thought that it also had a type of symbolic meaning to it, but he never managed to figure out what.

**_Many of our most powerful secrets were lost, including the spells my master used to extend my life. Magicians these days still live long—sometimes centuries—but I have been alive for two millennia."_**

"Actually, they are slowly restored." Cleo spoke up at which everyone from the past looked over at her.

"What do you mean?" younger Amos asked while Iskander looked hopeful.

"We kind of found out that there were copies made and put away by the Gods." Zia said at which Iskander nodded his head, yes the answer to their survival had been in front of them all along, but they failed to see it.

_"_**_So you're immortal?"_**

Everyone from the present kept themselves from flinching.

**_His chuckle turned into a racking cough._**

This time they winched, those coughing fits had been terrible to see.

**_He doubled over and cupped his hands over his mouth. I wanted to help, but I wasn't sure how. The glowing hieroglyphs flickered and dimmed around him._**

Both Zia and Desjardins suddenly tensed, this had been the first time…Carter suddenly understood why Sadie wanted him to hold Zia, but now he know and this made him tighten his hold around her.

**_Finally the coughing subsided._**

**_He took a shaky breath. "Hardly immortal, my dear. In fact..." His voice trailed off._**

Zia snuggled closer to Carter while fighting the tears which threatened to flow down her face, this had been…he had known..., her parents could only look at their daughter worriedly, they did not know what was wrong. Desjardins looked just as pale as the girl, he clearly remembered the talk he had with Lord Iskander the night before and now reading this, he had a dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

_"_**_But never mind that. What did you see in your vision?"_**

**_I probably should've kept quiet. I didn't want to be turned into a bug for breaking any rules, _**

"I only do that by people who reach at least the number one hundred in the case of broken rules." Iskander said with a small smile, yes it seemed that his time would be present in this book.

"Nice to know." Sadie mumbled to herself.

**_and the vision had terrified me—especially the moment when I'd changed into a bird of the prey._**

Carter suddenly sat up straighter and looked over to his sister, this could explain it.

"Sadie, do your remember how you had by he first times problems transforming back from a bird into a human?" he asked while their family members tensed.

"Yes, it had been dreadful." Sadie answered, not exactly getting what her brother was on about.

"You just mentioned that the memory you saw scarred you, mostly after you become a bird, it could be that when you transformed you subconsciously remembered that fear and this caused your problems at that time." he explained to her which made Sadie look thoughtful.

"That could have been it." she said after two minutes before waving to Sean that he should continue, there is not much left.

**_But Iskander's kindly expression made it hard to hold back._**

Those of the present tried to hold in their sadness while their visitors from only a bit back nodded in agreement.

**_I ended up telling him everything. Well, almost everything. I left out the bit about the good-looking boy,_**

Anubis felt his blush return while some of the others grinned in amusement.

**_and yes, I know it was silly, but I was _****_embarrassed_****_._**

"I wonder why that was?" Jaz asked smirking while Sadie stuck her tongue out at her.

**_I reckoned that part could've been my own crazed imagination at work, as Ancient Egyptian gods could _****_not_****_ have been that gorgeous._**

Anubis's face was again the same colour as his father's hair while said God looked up at her Eye who was doing his best to not blush at the implied question in that gesture, his younger version seemed to have also noted it for he was also doing his best to not look at anyone. The others meanwhile were snickering in amusement at that comment, well beside an offended looking Horus who was the option that yes he was that gorgeous.

**_Iskander sat for a moment, tapping his staff against the steps. "You saw a very old event, Sadie—Set taking the throne of Egypt by force._**

"I did the right thing, Osiris had no right for that throne." Set stated while glaring at Isis who avoided her gaze.

**_He hid Osiris's coffin, you know, and Isis searched the entire world to find it."_**

_"_**_So she got him back eventually?"_**

_"_**_Not exactly. Osiris was resurrected—but only in the Underworld. He became the king of the dead. _**

"Which role I certainly prefer." Osiris said, that was the throne on which he truly belonged.

**_When their son, Horus, grew up, Horus challenged Set for the throne of Egypt and won after many hard battles. That is why Horus was called the Avenger._**

Horus puffed his chest proudly while Set rolled her eyes at him before looking down at her stomach.

"Yes, you can later on pick if you want to call him your idiot of an uncle or cousin, I think the later sounds a bit less worse, but you will be unfortunately related to him anyway." Set whispered to the baby at which was of course heard by both Amos and Sadie who were sitting the closes to her. Both needed to bit on their tongues to not snicker at that what Set just said to the baby, Sadie also found it cute how much the God was getting into the whole pregnancy thing.

**_As I said—an old story, but one that the gods have repeated many times in our history."_**

_"_**_Repeated?"_**

"We are currently working on to break that or to damper it down like those on the other side managed to do." Thoth said, it would be really good to stop some of those.

"Well, it had started already somewhat." Carter said while he and Sadie looked over at the two Gods they host who gave them nods, they had realized that well enough that neither sibling would ever go against their uncle who had become protective about Set.

_"_**_The gods follow patterns. In some ways they are quite predictable:_**

The Gods did their best to not look offended at that while the others smirked at them.

**_acting out the same squabbles, the same jealousies down through the ages._**

"Not anymore." those of the present said seeing that there were changes which had not been in the past.

"Yes, I need to agree that my statement in that book had lost much of its argument value." Iskander admitted, who would have thought that the times will not only change for the House, but also for the Gods, this was truly a new era for all of them.

**_Only the settings change, and the hosts."_**

**_There was that word again: _****_hosts_****_. I thought about the poor woman in the New York museum who'd turned into the goddess Serqet._**

"Well we now know that she did that out of her free will." Shelby said.

_"_**_In my vision," I said, "Isis and Osiris were married. Horus was about to be born as their son. But in another story Carter told me, all three of them were siblings, children of the sky goddess."_**

The Gods nodded their heads.

_"_**_Yes," Iskandar agreed. "This can be confusing for those who do not know the nature of gods. They cannot walk the earth in their pure form—at least, not for more than a few moments. They must have hosts."_**

"Now it is a bit easier as we mentioned, but we must also on occasions rely on our hosts." Isis told everyone.

_"_**_Humans, you mean."_**

"Well…Hours also tends to use pigeons." Carter said at which some looked at the God strangely.

"I don't see the problem, they are noble birds." Horus said while everyone decided to just turn away and listen to the book. "Hey, what is it?", but he was ignored.

_"_**_Or powerful objects, such as statues, amulets, monuments, certain models of cars._**

"Erm…cars?" Leonid asked blinking in confusion as everyone turned to the fidgeting Gods.

"Uh…we were locked away in the Rosetta Stone." the Demon Days pointed out hurriedly so everyone was now looking at Anubis, Thoth and Tawaret.

"Well…erm…some of the few not locked away Gods found the new horseless chariots interesting." Thoth explained while waving to Sean that he should read.

**_But they _****_prefer_****_ human form. You see gods have great power, but only humans have creativity, the power to change history rather than simply repeat it._**

"And this kind of brought us to the theme of demigods who combine both sides in them similarly like a host would." Carter spoke up while some of the others blinked.

"This in a way really explains why the Greco-Roman Gods are not bound to repeat their past actions and could at least somewhat change with time, because they continued to have children with mortals." Cleo added in after thinking it over herself.

"That could be really it." Ruby mused to herself before leaning closer to her brother-in-law. "Well with you starting the new pattern for the Gods." she whispered to him, looking amused as he blushed while staring at her with wide eyes.

**_Humans can... how do you moderns say it... think outside the cup."_**

"Box." some of the others corrected.

_"_**_The box," I suggested._**

_"_**_Yes. The combination of human creativity and godly power can be quite formidable. _**

"The demigods certainly are." Thoth said remembering how while they got the books done he had meet Athena's daughter who had designed Olymphos's new looks and will help them by their own camp.

"I wonder who would be more powerful." Horus mused.

"The demigods." come it suddenly from Walt who started to explain his reasoning. "Even if the magician is a host or better the Eye of a God they still need to be careful, there is a limit asto how long a magician is able to use their partner-God's powers before it becomes to dangerous for them. Demigods on the other hand were born with those godly powers meaning they can use them without a limit."

"Well noted Walt." Thoth told the magician before turning back to Sean. "Though now I believe we should continue, the chapter will be soon over." everyone nodded their heads, though a few dreaded what will be mentioned soon.

**_At any rate, when Osiris and Isis first walked the earth, their hosts were brother and sister. But mortal hosts are not permanent. They die, they wear out._**

Amos felt Set pull slightly closer to him and he had a good guess why she reacted like this.

**_Later in history, Osiris and Isis took new forms—humans who were husband and wife._**

"Neithhotep?" Ashkender asked after giving the queen at his side a thankful smile.

"My wife?" Narmer asked, his tone was still feint as he tried to somehow wrap his mind around the fact that he will lose his brother and it will be by his own hand, he could not even put the blame on the Red Lord, he just felt hollow.

"Yes, she had been my host." Isis admitted while Ruby exchanged a look with her mother.

**_Horus, who in one lifetime was their brother, was born into a new life as their son."_**

_"_**_That's confusing," I said. "And a little gross."_**

Sadie held up her hands defensively as the Gods turned to her with raised eyebrows.

"You know that in the eyes of mortals you guys are having incest relationships and one should not even mention the labyrinth like family trees." Sadie told them defensively.

**_Iskander shrugged. "The gods do not think of relationships the way we humans do._**

The Gods nodded, they saw nothing bad in the case of with whom they are together.

**_Their hosts are merely like changes of clothes._**

"Not for all of us." Set and Anubis snapped at the same time which made both Amoses blush and Walt smile at the God, the other divinities who had hosts before meanwhile mentally apologized to their current ones and told them that they don't see them as that.

"I apologize." Iskander said, that what he had seen so far certainly showed that this was truly not always the case for the Gods.

**_This is why the ancient stories seem so mixed up. Sometimes the gods are described as married, or siblings, or parent and child, depending on their hosts. The pharaoh himself was called a living god, you know. Egyptologists believe this was just a lot of propaganda, but in fact it was often literally true. The greatest of the pharaohs became hosts for gods, usually Horus._**

Said God looked smug again while some of the others resisted the urge to roll their eyes.

**_He gave them power and wisdom, _**

"I accept the power part, but for the wisdom part I'm still waiting." Set said and the smug look disappeared from Horus's face as he glared at the other.

**_and let them build Egypt into a mighty empire."_**

"That on the other hand is false, Lord Ra had started things and then the other Gods also contributed to how things are, Horus is lost by anything he can't put into a battle like situation." Set continued while his nephew's glare become even more intense, but he was ignored.

_"_**_But that's good, isn't it? Why is it against the law to host a god?"_**

Iskander bit back a sigh, he hoped that he will give an understandable explanation, but he somehow doubted it.

**_Iskander's face darkened. "Gods have different agendas than humans do, Sadie. They can overpower their hosts, literally burn them out._**

The Gods bowed their heads and Set pulled closer to Amos while Iskander looked at them with guilt in his eyes, he could see that they felt bothered due to those things happening.

**_That is why so many hosts die young. Tutankhamen, poor boy, died at nineteen._**

Seeing how Sadie was still beside Set patted Amos Walt on his back before returning his hand to where it had been before, holding Set's hand.

"That had been not the only ground for his death as we found out in the next book." Sadie said flinching inwardly as she remembered that her uncle Amos was not the only person Desjardins had seen as his friend and he will not only hear at the end of that book how he will die, but also about the betrayal of his second friend. She felt really bad for the French magician.

**_Cleopatra VII was even worse. She tried to host the spirit of Isis without knowing what she was doing, and it shattered her mind._**

Isis shook her head, it had been one of those times she felt really terrible for such an outcome while the ohters bowed their heads for the queen.

"She had been desperate to save her people." Isis whispered, it had all been her fault, the prophecy could not be stopped from happening.

**_In the old days, the House of Life taught the use of divine magic. Initiates could study the path of Horus, or Isis, or Sekhmet, or any number of gods,_**

"Beside mine." Set whispered in annoyance while resting her head on his shoulder, at least her Eye tried to be there for her.

**_learning to channel their powers. We had many more initiates back then."_**

**_Iskander looked round the empty hall, as if imagining it filled with magicians._**

"It is ironic that I had even mentioned the way to save us and had not even realized it." Iskander said with a small smile on his lips.

_"_**_Some adepts could call upon the gods only from time to time. Others attempted to host their spirits... with varying degrees of success. The ultimate goal was to become the 'eye' of the god—a perfect union of the two souls, mortal and immortal._**

The Gods exchanged smiles with their present Eyes while their visitors who will become eyes looked a bit embarrassed though they all noted that this perfect union was similar to that how a demigod must be.

**_Very few achieved this, even among the pharaohs, who were born to the task. Many destroyed themselves trying."_**

"Well, we are some of the few who could achieve it." Sadie grinned happily as Isis beamed at her.

**_He turned up his palm, which had the most deeply etched lifeline I'd ever seen. "When Egypt finally fell to the Romans, it became clear to us—to _****_me_****_—that mankind, our rulers, even the strongest magicians, no longer had the strength of will to master a god's power._**

"It seems that this had been another mistake from my side seeing that a good deal of people here are not only hosts, but the Eye of the God they follow." Iskander said while looking at the group in front of him.

"Also Master Iskander, we understand the danger it could mean to host a God, but then why did you turn from them and just simply forbade the hosting to our people?" Hatshepsut spoke up at which the man gave her a sad smile.

"It seems that the history clearly was right about your wisdom queen Hatshepsut for you see a less damaging solution which had not occurred to me when it had been needed." Iskander replied to the woman with a small bow as those from the present wondered how things would have turned out if they would have really used this method instead of sealing the Gods.

**_The only ones who could..." His voice faltered._**

_"_**_What?"_**

_"_**_Nothing, my dear. I talk too much. An old man's weakness."_**

_"_**_It's the blood of the pharaohs, isn't it?"_**

Everyone nodded their heads.

**_He fixed me in his gaze. His eyes no longer looked milky. They burned with intensity. "You are a remarkable young girl. You remind me of your mother."_**

Sadie smiled saddly at the memory of those words.

**_My mouth fell open. "You knew her?"_**

_"_**_Of course. She trained here, as did your father. Your mother... well, aside from being a brilliant scientist, she had the gift of divination._**

Ruby felt her cheeks redden at the praise she had received from her Chief Lector.

**_One of the most difficult forms of magic, and she was the first in centuries to possess it."_**

"It certainly is a rare gift, according to my father was my grandmother queen Tia-Sitre also in possession of this gift." Ramses told Ruby whose blush only worsened, it seemed to have been a family gift then.

_"_**_Divination?"_**

_"_**_Seeing the future. Tricky business, never perfect, but she saw things that made her seek advice from... _****_unconventional_****_ places, things that made even _****_this_****_ old man question some long-held beliefs..."_**

Isknader looked thoguthful at this while Ruby frowned, it was mentioned that she had foreseen the los of her life and he wondered that before that could she have had seen glimpses about the future of the uniting paths and talked with him about it. It would certainly explain his actions and this sentence.

**_He drifted off into Memoryland again, which was infuriating enough when my grandparents did it, but when it's an all-powerful magician who has valuable information, it's enough to drive on mad._**

"I can understand." Iskander said in an apologetic tone while the Fausts blushed.

_"_**_Iskander?"_**

"Master Iskander." Julius corrected his daughter in an attempt to stop Desjardins from looking depressed, didn't work.

**_He looked at me with mild surprise, as if he'd forgotten I was there. "I'm sorry, Sadie. I should come to the point: you have a hard path ahead of you, but I'm convinced now it's a path you must take, for all our sakes. Your brother will need your guidance."_**

"I certainly did." Carter said while smiling at his sister.

**_I was tempted to laugh. "Carter, need my guidance? For what? What path do you mean?"_**

_"_**_All in good time. Things must take their course."_**

"They certainly did." Replied all those from the present while their visitors exchanged nervous glances.

**_Typical adult answer. I tried to bite back my frustration. "And what if _****_I_****_ need guidance?"_**

_"_**_Zia," he said, without hesitation. "She is my best pupil, and she is wise. When the time comes, she will know how to help you."_**

Carter pulled his girlfriend closer, he knew that she still felt guilty about how she had reacted about him when he found her, but in the end did she just about what Iskander had talked. Meanwhile were her parents smiling proudly at their daughter as Iskander nodded his head, they young woman would certainly be just like her grandmother had been.

_"_**_Right," I said, a bit disappointed. "Zia."_**

"I'm sorry." Sadie said, but it was not only because of this comment.

_"_**_For now you should rest, my dear. And it seems I, too, can rest at last."_**

Zia suddenly started crying and those of the present looked down sadly.

"No…" Desjardins whispered, his Master could not follow the call.

"I understand, so this will be the time I gave the future of the House into the hand of the new generation, at the dawn of a new age while I follow the call of the twin sons of the Night Goddess." Iskander said while everyone looked at him pale when they suddenly had realized which twins were meant.

**_He sounded sad but relieved._**

"Of course it will sadden me to cause you all so much pain, but I have long since wished for rest, but could not let the House fade now I know that I can truly go with a light heart." Iskander said in a soft tone as Sean continued the last lines in a sad tone, his voice mixing with the sound of soft crying from some of the attic's occupants.

**_I didn't know what he was talking about, but he didn't give me the chance to ask._**

_"_**_I am sorry our time together was so brief," he said. "Sleep well, Sadie Kane."_**

_"_**_But—"_**

**_Iskander touched my forehead. And I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep._**

"This was the end of the chapter." Sean told the others.

"I think we should make a pause of ten minutes for all of us to calm down and after that Alyssa will read." older Amos said as he looked over at the nodding group.

"That sounds like a good idea." Rachel agreed as she stood up and walked over to her daughter who was still crying in her boyfriend's arms.

The others were also slowly standing up from their sitting places and trying to let the turmoil of their emotions come to a rest.

_To be continued…_


	14. Did we pass or not?

XIV. Did we pass or not?

The ten minutes passed in an agonizingly slow for and for some fast way with a deal of the heavy feelings form before still lingering in the air and around the gathered group. Rachel retreated when the time was up beside her husband, leaving her daughter in the care of her boyfriend after both of them finally managed to stop her tears. The Kane family, well those who did not know about the incident in the ancient past, still felt uncomfortable regards the new revelation. Narmer had attempted to talk with his brother, but he could not get the words out and it did not help that Ashkender had taken the God for whom he died and his priest as company for those ten minutes. Iskander meanwhile had been busy to try talking again with Michel and for a few short minutes had he also been by Zia, it really surprised him how close his bond seemed to be with Nimat's graddaughter and in some hard to definable way it also bothered him, but he did not know the ground for it.

"Is everyone up for continuing?" Thoth asked as many gave him reluctant nods, if for noting else they hoped that the books would take their thoughts away from the new revelation like they managed before.

"The next title is **_How Zia Lost Her Eyebrows_**." Alyssa read while some raised their own eyebrows at the title, but she did not spend to much time on it, she wanted to take her thoughts away how Carter's and Sadie's ancestor had hurt his brother who seemed to share some aspects with Amos. There was also still the fact about the knowledge what Geb did, she will need to talk with the God whose Path she followed, _that_ was not nice to threat your child like something you can throw away if you don't like them.

**_I woke to a bucket of ice water in my face._**

Zia allowed herself a small smile, though her eyes were still red and puffy from crying, she thought that she could deal with hearing about Iskander's death, but apparently having said man sitting here while you read how he knew that his time was over had proven her wrong.

"I would appreciate if that doesn't get repeated." Sadie said with a huff, she had returned to her original place after saying thanks to Set.

"Will try." Zia replied back while still having her small smile which was for the time being enough for Sadie, she hated the fact that all of them felt either guilty or depressed.

_"_**_Sadie! Get up," Zia said._**

"You could have done this first and waited to see if I react." Sadie told the older woman which this time earned her a few feint snickers, good they were getting out of their gloomy thoughts, even though she would have preffered that this did not happen on her expenses, but one could not have everything.

_"_**_God!" I yelled. "Was that _****_necessary_****_?"_**

_"_**_No," Zia admitted._**

The laughs become somewhat louder while Carter pulled his girlfriend closer with a proud grin on his lips.

**_I wanted to strangle her, except I was dripping wet, shivering, and still disoriented._**

This increased the laughter even more while Sadie blushed, but she also had a smile on her lips.

**_How long had I slept? It felt like only a few minutes, but the dormitory was empty. All the other cots were made. The girls must've already gone to their morning lessons._**

"They left almost an hour ago." Zia informed Sadie, she had wondered why the blonde had slept that deep, now she knew, no she will not get sad again. Master Iskander was happy now and without any worries, she needed to think about that.

**_Zia tossed me a towel and some fresh linen clothes. "We'll meet Carter in the cleansing room."_**

"It is not exactly like in the temples." Thoth decided to inform the four of the antique who looked somewhat scandalized while those of the future blushed after realizing what they must have thought.

_"_**_I just _****_got_****_ a bath, thanks very much. What I need is a proper breakfast."_**

Cue more laughter while Sadie decided that if this goes on will she use Walt as a shield again and try finding out if the books could be edited or Drew will never let her live some… ok more like most of her comments down.

_"_**_The cleansing prepares you for magic." Zia slung her bag of tricks_**

Zia looked over at Sadie who raised her hands in surrender.

"I'm not a morning person." she told the other, lame excuse? Yes, did she care? No.

**_over her shoulder and unfolded the long black staff she'd used in New York. "If you survive, we'll see about food."_**

"Unfortunately something got in between and food was delayed." Sadie grumbled, ugh…those horrid fruit bats.

"What happened?" Ruby asked worriedly, beside the worrisome thought that Iskander would be gone and that it… "On the other hand don't answer that." she said while resisting the urge to send something flying towards Desjardins, the only ground she did not was because she remembered that he had not done anything at the given time and second, he looked completely devasted and she was sure that she saw tear marks on his cheeks.

**_I was tired of being reminded that I might die,_**

"Guess how the demigods feel then, annoyingly almost each monster reminds them about that and Percy kind of gets it even from some of their Gods, but that has more to do with his knack to annoy them." Set told her while hoping to keep the number of attacking monsters to a minimum regards her child with her also being there as well as Bast and Ra who had declared themselves as godparents the minute they found out about the pregnancy as ironic as that title sound in their cases.

**_but I got dressed and followed her out._**

"Not that I had much of a choice, at that time would I have been hopelessly lost down there." Sadie told the others, now she got along pretty well on those paths, but at that time not so much.

"It can be confusing for everyone at the beginning." Ruby told her daughter while Julius bowed his head, his older self kind of pushed a still slightly gloomy Osiris to the front.

"Dad, are you alright?" Carter asked when he noticed what his father was doing, well both of them that is.

"Uhm…yes, Alyssa please continue." he said hurriedly when suddenly the older version of his brother looked up in surprise before it was replaced by an unnerving grin.

"Ah, has this something to do with you looking for the library and accidentally entering the girl's dorm when they were getting dressed?" he asked his bet red brother while everyone turned to Julius with wide eyes.

"Is this why the girls looked so annoyed all day why you ducked behind everything when one of them passed by?" Ruby asked her husband, she had at that time already left the dorm and no one told her what was wrong.

"Just continue the book." was the only answer Julius gave, what was it with everyone bringing up embarrassing stories regards him since they started reading? At least seemed Alyssa to have taken pity on his and started reading again.

**_After another endless series of tunnels, we came to a chamber with a roaring waterfall._**

The four of the antique exchanged a small glance with each other, though that of the brother's had been fleeting, this really did not sound like the cleansing rooms in the temples, they had large pools, but no waterfalls.

**_There was no ceiling, just a shaft above us that seemed to go up forever. Water fell from the darkness into a fountain, splashing over a five-meter-tall statue of that bird-headed god. What was his name—Tooth?_**

"Excuse me?" Thoth asked before sending a glare at a snickering Horus.

"Sorry, I will be misunderstanding some of your names at first hearing for a small while." Sadie said as she looked at both the God and Cleo.

"Which names will you misunderstand?" younger Julius asked his daughter who only gestured to the book, a clear answer; they should read to find out.

**_No, Thoth._**

Both Thoth and Cleo nodded in satisfaction at the quick correction of the name seeing how _'Thoth'_ was one of the easier names the God possessed.

**_The water cascaded over his head, collected in his palms, then spilled out into the pool._**

**_Carter stood beside the fountain. He was dressed in linen with Dad's workbag over one shoulder and his sword strapped to his back. His hair was rumpled, as if he hadn't slept well._**

"I certainly did not" Carter said while trying not to flinch. _'You will hear about it in the next chapter if my assumptions are correct, neither dad, uncle Amos from the past and Desjardins will be happy and Set will get probably upset, leave alone the fact that in that chapter Zia's parents get informed about their deaths and that their daughter had a hard time remembering them. Ugh…we might need to put in another pause after that chapter and this is only the first book, I dread the others already.' _he added in as an afterthought.

**_At least he hadn't been doused in ice water._**

"Unlike you he had already been awake and dressed when I went to wake him." Zia informed Sadie who let out an annoyed huff while the others smiled at the scene, the heavy feelings dissolving somewhat.

**_Seeing him, I felt a strange sense of relief. I thought about Iskander's words last night: _****_Your brother will need your guidance_****_._**

The siblings smiled at each other while their parents watched them, glad that the bond between them which had been buried for years had rekindled itself.

_"_**_What?" Carter asked. "You're staring at me funny."_**

"You kid of really looked at me strangely." Carter informed his sister who shrugged.

"It was not easy slipping back into a younger sister mode." she told him, now it was easy, but at that time not so much.

_"_**_Nothing," I said quickly. "How'd you sleep?"_**

_"_**_Badly. I'll... I'll tell you about it later."_**

**_Was it my imagination, or did he frown in Zia's direction?_**

Everyone turned to said pair who exchanged a fleeting glance with each other before Carter sighed.

"It will come up if I'm right in the next chapter, after which we may probably need another ten minutes." he told the now nervous group as he squeezed Zia's hand to show her that he was there for her.

**_Hmm_****_, possible romantic trouble between Miss Magic and my brother?_**

"Not exactly, but you will see." Carter said while gesturing to Alyssa that she should continue, the others who did not know meanwhile looked even more nervous.

**_I made a mental note to interrogate him next time we were alone._**

"That kind of also happened differently then it was planned." Sadie said with a sheepish smile.

"This seems to happen quiet often around you Kanes." Desjardins said while rolling his eyes so he failed to notice how most of the people from his time and those from the present looked relieved that he commented.

**_Zia went to a nearby cabinet. She brought out two ceramic cups, dipped them into the fountain, then offered them to us. "Drink."_**

**_I glanced at Carter. "After you."_**

"Sadie, the water is not poisonous." Ruby told her daughter who smiled back at her sheepishly.

"I had already a dose of water that morning so I was not up to immediately get more, but eventually I did, only needed to remember something." Sadie answered while the others looked a bit confused, but concluded that they will know in a few seconds.

_"_**_It's only water," Zia assured me, "but purified by contact with Thoth. It will focus your mind."_**

Thoth nodded his head, back then when he had founded the House had he placed a blessing on that statue to help the magicians find their focus much faster.

**_I didn't see how a statue could purify water. Then I remembered what Iskander had said, how gods could inhabit anything._**

Said man nodded his head before looking thoughtful, he certainly seemed like a hypocrite now, he forbade the summoning and even any contact beside fights with Gods while they had keep the protecting and purifying statues and some more in their possession even thought they were bound to those they had betrayed. How ironic seems things to be just like the way how they had saved themselves from fading.

**_I took a drink. Immediately I felt like I'd had a good strong cup of Gran's tea._**

Said woman glared at her family form their time as they suddenly flinched rather visibly, there was noting wrong with her tea, it helped you even to wake up in the morning. The others on the other hand who had never experienced her tea exchanged confused glances with each other, how could one make tea which results the same reactions as the cleansed water in the First?

**_My brain buzzed. My eyesight sharpened. I felt so hyperactive, I almost didn't miss my chewing gum— almost._**

Mrs. Faust still looked annoyed at her family so she missed the contemplating looks from those who wanted to find out how she makes her tea.

**_Carter sipped from his cup. "Wow."_**

_"_**_Now the tattoos," Zia announced._**

_"_**_Brilliant!" I said._**

"No real tattoos!" come it from younger Julius, Ruby and Mrs. Faust, her husband was kind of busy spluttering after he heard the word _'tattoo'_.

"I know." Sadie said while making sure that they don't see the look she was giving everyone from their time, seeing how she now kind of had an actual a tattoo since a whole year on her lover back, it was of course an Ankh slightly wrapped up and surrounded by linen ribbons.

_"_**_On your tongue," she added._**

Mr. Faust really hoped that they were right and that would not be an actually tattoo, he did not see the sense of those ugly things and he had been in the army.

_"_**_Excuse me?"_**

**_Zia stuck out her tongue. Right in the middle was a blue hieroglyph._**

_"_**_Nith ith Naat," she tried to say with her tongue out._**

Zia blushed as some of the others started snickering, she really did not know why she even atempted talking with her tongue out when giving them the explaining. Ah yes, she did not know that they will voice record their adventures and then on a later time be forced to send them over to Gods and their children.

**_Then she realized her mistake and stuck her tongue back in._**

This only made the snickers louder.

**_"I mean, this is Ma'at, the symbol of order and harmony. It will help you speak magic clearly. One mistake with a spell—"_**

All magicians shuddered, those mistakes rarely ended pretty.

_"_**_Let me guess," I said. "We'll die."_**

"In the worst cases, but it all depends on the spell you use." Thoth elaborated while Alyssa giggled as she saw the next line.

**_From her cabinet of horrors,_**

"Ugh…I had been so dumb." Sadie groaned while hiding her face in Walt's shirt as some of the others started chuckling or shook their heads at her comment. The blonde was sure that she would say this sentence also pretty often by other chapters.

**_Zia produced a fine-tipped paintbrush and a bowl of blue dye. "It doesn't hurt. And it's not permanent."_**

Mr. Faust relaxed at this, just one small symbol painted on the tongue which is not even permanent, he could live with that instead of one of those horrendous things young people today put on their skin and don't think how that may look in forty years when age fully sets in.

_"_**_How does it taste?" Carter wondered._**

"I regret asking." Carter while shuddering, the others kind of agreed, it was needed and useful, but the taste was ghastly.

"Thoth, we have a small job for you to do on the side while using Horus as a guinea pig" Sadie called over to the God of Knowledge who looked back at her in confusion and slight curiosity.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked the blonde.

"Try making paint which tastes like I don't know fruits or something bearable." she instructed him while the others were not sure if they should hake their heads or voice their approval, in the end they decided to do neither and to just return to the book.

**_Zia smiled._**

"It is kind of amusing how people react the first time when getting the tattoo painted on." Zia replied before leaning closer to Carter so that only he hears her. "Beside that, you looked cute while doing that." she told her blushing boyfriend.

_"_**_Stick out your tongue."_**

**_To answer Carter's question, the tattoo tasted like burning car tires._**

All magicians nodded their heads, the taste was not pleasant in any way, but one could not complain in the end.

_"_**_Ugh_****_." I spit a blue gob of "order and harmony" into the fountain._**

It had been really hard to not find the statement amusing.

**_"Never mind breakfast. Lost my appetite."_**

Mostly followed by this.

**_Zia pulled a leather satchel out of the cabinet. "Carter will be allowed to keep your father's magic implements, plus a new staff and wand._**

Both Juliuses smiled at Carter who looked back at them, he really liked the bag and on occasions one could even tolerate Doughboy and his complaints.

**_Generally speaking, the wand is for defense, the staff is for offense, although, Carter, you may prefer to use your _****_khopesh_****_."_**

"I certainly do prefer it compared to the staff." Carter agreed with the past statement of his girlfriend, it somehow felt right holding it in a fight.

_"_**_Khopesh_****_?"_**

_"_**_The curved sword," Zia said. "A favored weapon of the pharaoh's guard._**

Everyone nodded their heads though those of the present tried to not grin at the irony that the weapon of the Pharaoh's guards is used by the ruler himself, but they guessed that it king of went in some kind of parallel with his girlfriend being the Eye of Ra who had in a way been the first Pharaoh and neither forgot that Ra had entrusted Zia to Carter's care so it was fine like this.

**_It can be used in combat magic._**

"Which is my speciality." Horus said proudly.

"His ego is making an appearance again." Set whispered to Amos who felt glad that the other was calm again, he could just hope that no bad memories will be brought up again beside the things in the books or he will be busy constantly renewing the seal around their child.

_**As for Sadie, you will need a full kit."**_

_"**How come ****he**** gets Dad's kit?" I complained.**_

"He is the eldest," come it from all around the room as Sadie rolled her eyes, she had already got this explanation seven years ago, there was not need to repeat it in so many ways.

_"_**_He is the eldest," she said, as if that explained everything._**

Everyone nodded, this was kind of an unwritten law if someone does not take steps around it, this was the ground why the _'last will'_ got instructed if one wanted to change the inheritance order.

**_Typical._**

Sadie put her hands up in defence.

**_Zia tossed me the leather satchel._**

"Why is it made out of leather if you said that animal products weaken magic?" Mr. Faust asked much to his and to everyone's who knew him amazement.

"While it is true that wearing leather products is not the best for a magician, it has a property to repel magic so another magician can't get to the objects in your satchel by using magic." Ruby explained it to her father who nodded, still stunned that he almost sounded as if he would be interested in all of these superstitions.

"Alyssa." Felix whispered to the girl who nodded and started continuing.

**_Inside was an ivory wand, a rod that I supposed turned into a staff, some paper, an ink set, a bit of twine, and a lovely chunk of wax. I was less than thrilled._**

"Now I certainly appreciate them." Sadie said before anyone could comment and this was the truth, she rarely left the house nowadays without her magic bag on her shoulder or stored safely in the Duat to pull out if she had the feeling that it would be needed.

_"_**_What about a little wax man?" I asked. "I want a Doughboy."_**

Sadie groaned while Carter looked over at her in amusement.

_"_**_If you mean a figurine, you must make one yourself. You will be taught how, if you have the skill._**

"Unfortunately she has dad's skills in that department." Carter said while his father blushed and gave Sadie an apologetic smile.

**_We will determine your specialty later."_**

"Field study can be rather amusing." Ruby said while everyone nodded their heads, it certainly had some amusing aspects to it to try out all those different things till you know what you are the best at and then spend most of your time concentrating on those aspects.

_"_**_Specialty?" Carter asked. "You mean like Nectanebo specialized in statues?"_**

There were several nods at this.

**_Zia nodded. "Nectanebo was extremely skilled in statuary magic. He could make _****_shabti_****_ so lifelike, they could pass for human. No one has ever been greater at statuary... except perhaps Iskander._**

Everyone who knew the skills of the old Chief Lector nodded their heads in agreement, mostly the Kane siblings regards Zia's own shabti though Amos noted how Set seemed a bit unsatisfied by something, he was about to ask when Iskander spoke up.

"I thank you all for the appreciation regards the skill of an old man, though I may not be the only one skilled in regards statuary magic. Seeing how I tend to often correspondence with the heads of the other Nomes and the at that time current head of the Twenty-First whom was more then satisfied with Amos's skills in that department." Iskander said while both age groups of said man blushed mostly when those of the present nodded their heads, but did not comment seeing that they did not want to spoil the surprise regards Philip.

Amos also noted that Set seemed to have relaxed again so he kind of had now a guess what the problem had been which made him smile somewhat, in a way was the God's acting adorable, though after he thought this he immediately pushed it away. They will see the case clearer after the baby is born.

**_But there are many other disciplines: Healer._**

Jaz raised her hand grinning.

**_Amulet maker._**

Walt, Sean and Shelby raised their hands, the later two learning most of it from Walt.

**_Animal charmer._**

Felix raised his hand while Hatshepsut smiled at him, the two of them certainly got along well.

**_Elementalist._**

Here Zia, Alyssa and Leonid raised their hands.

**_Combat magician._**

Carter put up his hand while Horus nodded his head approvingly, he would not have an Eye who is not that category, as did Julian.

**_Necromancer."_**

Here Walt put up his hand again while exchanging a grin with Anubis, those from the past only looked pleased at the large diversity in skills by the future magicians.

_"_**_Diviner?"_**

"You kind of startled me with that question." Zia informed Sadie who nodded her head, she kind of guessed it from Zia's expression at that time.

**_I asked._**

**_Zia looked at me curiously. "Yes, although that is quite rare. Why do you—"_**

"I'm now really glad that you did not answer at that time or you would have been in serious trouble with me." Zia told the other before she turned to her side when someone cleared his throat behind her.

"You mean to say she would have been in trouble with the both of us." Carter informed Zia as Sadie paled, the others on the other hand needed to chuckle at the scene, sure they were not happy about what Sadie did, but this small display was still amusing.

"At least you are fine." Walt whispered to Sadie who leaned back against him, she knew that he was still terribly worried about what he had read not long ago, it felt nice that he cared, but made her also feel guilty.

"I'm sorry." she whispered to him.

"It is fine as long as you are ok." he told her in a gentle tone.

**_I cleared my throat. "So how do we know our specialty?"_**

_"_**_It will become clear soon enough," Zia promised, "but a good magician knows a bit of everything, which is why we start with a basic test. Let us go to the library."_**

"This will be good." Sadie said suddenly while Zia giggled, both of them remembering the little incident Carter had, said Pharaoh on the other hand looked embarrassed.

"What happened?" younger Julius asked, his own first test had kind of backfired in a not so good way so he hoped that his kids didn't inherit his luck, but their reactions and the chapter title were not positive indications.

"You will soon hear." Sadie answered back, still grinning.

**_The First Nome's library was like Amos's, but a hundred times bigger, with circular rooms lined with honeycomb shelves that seemed to go on forever, like the world's largest beehive._**

There were some chuckles or in Desjardins's case eye rolls at the strange comparison.

**_Clay _****_shabti_****_ statues kept popping in and out, retrieving scroll canisters and disappearing, but we saw no other people._**

"It is a fairly large library and some of those scrolls were requested from the teachers in the classrooms." Zia replied with a shrug, it was noting unusual to see.

**_Zia brought us to a wooden table and spread out a long, blank papyrus scroll. She picked up a stylus and dipped it in ink._**

_"_**_The Egyptian word _****_shesh_****_ means scribe_**

Both Zia and Sadie shared a hidden smile at this, Cleo herself was also showing good skills in that department, but till now was she most of the time Sadie's assistant seeing how she contemplated going in some years back to the Hermitage with Leonid, but till now had neither of them made a decision.

**_or writer, but it can also mean magician. This is because magic, at its most basic, turns words into reality. You will create a scroll. Using your own magic, you will send power into the words on paper. When spoken, the words will unleash the magic."_**

All magicians nodded their heads again, it was important in their world to know that words have power and not only in their world, everywhere even the simplest word could change many things, it could build bridges, relationships or even destroy.

**_She handed the stylus to Carter._**

Both Sadie and Zia failed to hide their amusement while Carter buried his face between his hands which made the others look at the book curiously.

_"_**_I don't get it," he protested._**

Carter mumbled something into his hands which most guessed was along the lines that he didn't want to start first.

_"_**_A simple word," she suggested. "It can be anything."_**

_"_**_In English?"_**

There was the mumble again.

"Don't worry Carter, your mother asked the same." younger Julius spoke up while Ruby glared at him while blushing.

"Well, at least my word did not result in your brother looking like a wet cat." Ruby shoot back at which both Amoses glared at their respective, squirming older brother's while the others looked amused at the situation.

**_Zia curled her lip. "If you must. Any language will work, but hieroglyphics are best. They are the language of creation, of magic, of Ma'at. You must be careful, however."_**

**_Before she could explain, _**

"Somehow the situation with Julius started the same way." Ruby said as she remembered the scene seeing how the three of them took their test together and even arrived only two days apart.

**_Carter drew a simple hieroglyph of a bird._**

"Erm…the whole?" Ashkender asked carefully, it was not a good idea to do that, mostly if you are a beginner.

"Exactly." Sadie replied grinning while her brother let out a groan and mumbled something about birds and his life.

"Uh-oh." was the only thing Julius could mumble.

**_The picture wriggled, peeling itself off the papyrus, and flew away. It splattered Carter's head with some hieroglyphic droppings on its way out._**

Everyone beside a disgruntled looking Carter and those who bit their tongues to calm themselves, broke out laughing.

"Carter, this is not hard to do." Horus told his Eye when Set spoke up.

"Says the God who has trouble writing his name at the end of a papyrus scroll." she told him with an indignant look.

"That is because I need to also read them." Horus whined as Set rolled her eyes.

"This is what one calls responsibility, it is part of being a ruler." she told him in a stern tone, really one would think that one who wants to be king has at least some inkling that it is not about having fun all the time.

**_I couldn't help laughing at Carter's expression._**

The same went for those who imagined it or had also at least once witnessed such an incident.

_"_**_A beginner's mistake," Zia said, scowling at me to be quiet._**

"And where did that suportative Zia disappear to?" Carter asked the young woman who gave him a beaming smile and a soft giggle.

"She started dating you." Zia replied back in amusement.

_"_**_If you use a symbol that stands for something alive, it is wise to write it only partially—leaving off a wing, or the legs. Otherwise the magic you channel could make it come alive."_**

_"_**_And poop on its creator." Carter sighed, wiping off his hair with a bit of scrap papyrus. "That's why our father's wax statue, Doughboy, has no legs, right?"_**

"Not exactly, but the principle is similar." Julius answered, in Doughboy's case was it really that he was terrible with shabti, not that their parents cared, they seemed to not have high options about that skill even though Amos was certainly gifted at it, but got little praise at home.

_"_**_The same principle," Zia agreed. "Now, try again."_**

**_Carter stared at Zia's staff, which was covered in hieroglyphics. He picked the most obvious one and copied it on the papyrus—the symbol of fire._**

**_Uh-oh_****_, I thought. _**

This was also the thought of a good deal of people in the attic room.

**_But the word did not come alive, which would've been rather exciting._**

Sadie put her hands up when people started turning in her direction regards that comment.

**_It simply dissolved._**

_"_**_Keep trying," Zia urged._**

_"_**_Why am I so tired?" Carter wondered._**

**_He definitely looked exhausted. His face was beaded with sweat._**

_"_**_You're channeling magic from within," Zia said. "For me, fire is easy. But it may not be the most natural type of magic for you. _**

"This will be the best part." Sadie suddenly piped up and those of the initiates who remembered what will come next also started grinning while Carter groaned again, that lesson with the writing of words had been a disaster in his option.

**_Try something else. Summon... summon a sword."_**

"That may work." Amir said, but by the reactions he saw by those from the present was he not so sure about that assumption.

**_Zia showed him how to form the hieroglyph, and Carter wrote it on the papyrus. Nothing happened._**

_"_**_Speak it," Zia said._**

_"_**_Sword," Carter said. The word glowed and vanished, and a butter knife lay on the papyrus._**

There was silence for a few seconds before everyone bust out laughing at the result.

"I would say, using Divine Words is not your thing." Thoth said snickering while Horus grumbled in his throne, he had not been paying attention at that time or he would have tried to let an actual sword appear.

"Geee, I did not notice." Carter replied back to the God, at least would that lesson be soon over.

**_I laughed. "Terrifying!"_**

It took them three more minutes to calm down enough so that the reading could be continued.

**_Carter looked like he was about to pass out, but he managed a grin. He picked up the knife and threatened to poke me with it._**

_"_**_Very good for a first time," Zia said. "Remember, you are not creating the knife yourself. You are summoning it from Ma'at—the creative power of the universe. Hieroglyphs are the code we use. That's why they are called Divine Words. The more powerful the magician, the easier it becomes to control the language."_**

There were again nods from the magicians, this was one of the most important things they needed to learn.

**_I caught my breath. "Those hieroglyphs floating in the Hall of Ages. They seemed to gather around Iskander. Was he summoning them?"_**

_"_**_Not exactly," Zia said. "His presence is so strong, he makes the language of the universe visible simply being in the room. No matter what our specialty, each magician's greatest hope is to become a speaker of the Divine Words—to know the language of creation so well that we can fashion reality simply by speaking, not even using a scroll."_**

Isis and Sadie exchanged a secret smile with each other while Set leaned closer to Amos, she was more then pleased that her Eye was rather good with the usage of the Divine Words and would be better as their training continues, the bond between a God and their host had also such an aspect to it, but not many seemed to use the chance. Thoth also looked pleased at Cleo who blushed when noting the praise in the God's eyes, she did her best to learn and it made her happy that her love for reading seems to pay off and not be useless like some of her classmates in the past tended to tell her.

Mr. Faust on the other side held himself back from shaking his head, really changing reality with only saying something, it sounded completely absurd, but so would be everything here if he was honest with himself. A hidden mansion atop of a warehouse, four ancient Egyptian rulers pretty much alive and taken from the past, his unborn grandchildren as adults, Gods sitting with them and interacting, magic all of this should not even be real, but it still is.

_"_**_Like saying _****_shatter_****_," I ventured. "And having a door explode."_**

Sadie gave a sheepish smile to her uncle as the reminder of the exploded library door come up.

**_Zia scowled._**

"There had once been a small accident." Zia said while doing her best to not look in Desjardin's direction, she would like for him not knowing that she kind of blew up his study door by accident. That had been a long lecturing she got from both him and Master Iskander.

"Ah." Sadie replied, but did not ask further seeing how she noticed what Zia was doing.

**_"Yes, but such a thing would take years of practice."_**

_"_**_Really? Well—"_**

**_Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carter shaking his head, silently warning me to shut up._**

"I think that was a good idea at that time." Zia said with a sigh, shabti or not it acted perfectly like her and she knew how she would have reacted.

_"_**_Um_****_..." I stammered. "Some day, I'll learn to do that."_**

"You know, that statement made me kind of worried about you." Zia told Sadie while the younger initiates were laughing as the adults nodded their heads in agreement with Zia.

"That was the best cover I could come up with." Sadie told defensively while Amos felt thankful that she left the blasting doors apart out inside the house, now he only needed to make sure that his niece doesn't give the baby any ideas, they will have already enough of their own in regards of parentage.

**_Zia raised an eyebrow._**

"I stand by my earlier comment." Zia said while crossing her arms in front of her chest, she was glad that the atmosphere had gotten a bit lighter, but a part of her was still nervous regards the fact that she will in this chapter get the news that the man she had seen as family had passed away.

**_"First, master the scroll."_**

**_I was getting tired of her attitude,_**

Zia turned to Sadie with a raised eyebrow while both younger Julius and Amos did their best to not look at Ruby.

"Says the one with five times as much attitude then me." she told the blonde who blushed in embarrassment while waving to Alyssa that she should continue.

**_so I picked up the stylus and wrote _****_Fire_****_ in English._**

"Ooops…" Sadie mumbled while those from the past looked at her strangely.

"You can say that again, you gave me nearly a heart attack." Carter told his sister, well no one could blame him, he had at that time no clue that Zia was a Fire Elementalist and so more resistant to it then others.

"You were not the only one." Sadie said while those of the past looked even more confused though Amir had a slight clue what would happen seeing whom the young woman followed, at least would his daughter be unhurt due to her inheritance from her grandmother.

**_Zia leaned forward and frowned. "You shouldn't—"_**

**_Before she could finish, a column of flame erupted in her face._**

"As said, nearly had a heart attack." Carter repeated while pulling Zia closer who leaned against him with a small smile on her lips, she had seen how scarred he had looked after that incident.

"At least will she be fine due her being bound to fire." Rachel sighed in relief while sending a silent prayer of thanks to her mother-in-law for that gift she had given to Zia.

**_I screamed, sure I'd done something horrible,_**

"If it would have been someone else, then yes you would have." Thoth informed the other, but the situation had ended without a great damage even though that girl in the book had been at that time a shabti, but that was still not different from the actual situation.

**_but when the fire died Zia was still there, looking astonished, her eyebrows singed and her bangs smoldering._**

"And we now have the title here." Julian piped in.

_"_**_Oh, god," I said. "Sorry, sorry. Do I die now?"_**

**_For three heartbeats, Zia stared at me._**

"I was contemplating if I should be shocked, pleased, scarred or just murder you." Zia informed Sadie.

"Thanks for picking another option then anstead of the last one." was Sadie's reply, she really preffered living, thank you very much.

_"_**_Now," she announced. "I think you are ready to duel."_**

"Wait a moment, duel?" Mr. Faust asked while first looking over at his wife and then the rest of his family, first that chasm with that damned plank and who knows what attacking his daughter and now even a duel!

"Don't worry dad, a duel is only then suggested if the new initiates show some skill towards being ready to do that." Ruby tried reassuring her father, with more or less luck seeing how he was still giving the Chief Lector a dark look.

"That also could have gone better." Carter whispered to Sadie and Zia who nodded their heads in agreement.

"Well, the uppart is that Ramses will kind of figure out who his descendants are, and some side ancestors." Zia whispered back to the siblings.

"Yep, so nice to know that our family was kind of tied together since ages even in the ancient past." Sadie said as she remembered Thoth's words regards Narmer's wife's family.

"As was our bond with the Gods." Carter reminded her, this information kind of still surprised him, but it certainly explained some things that happened in the past, mostly why they were the ones aligned with the Demon Days.

**_We used another magic gateway, which Zia summoned right on the library wall. We stepped into a circle of swirling sand and popped out the other side, covered in dust and grit, in the front of some ruins._**

A good deal of people were trying to figure out where they could have gone while the four from the antique did their best to not flinch, they were not eager to find out what of their past had been let to crumble together there.

**_The harsh sunlight almost blinded me._**

_"_**_I hate portals," Carter muttered, brushing the sand out of his hair._**

"Set, could this also be unintentionally your doing seeing how you kind of helped making those portals and you don't exactly like Horus." Carter asked the God in red while Horus looked annoyed and mumbling something along the lines of the feeling being mutual.

"I'm not sure about that one, though I will look over that later on." Set answered to the young Pharaoh who nodded his head that he was fine with the idea.

**_Then he looked around and his eyes widened. "This is Luxor!_**

Ramses let out a chocking sound while Ruby and her family tensed.

**_That's, like, hundreds of miles south of Cairo."_**

**_I sighed. "And that amazes you after teleporting from New York?"_**

"Dad would never go there, though now I know why." Carter whispered to the others who nodded their heads, it would make sense why Julius avoided that place after his wife's death.

**_He was too busy checking out our surroundings to answer._**

**_I supposed the ruins were all right, though once you've seen one pile of crumbly Egyptian stuff, you've seen them all, I say._**

Now looked the rest of the antique also sick while the Gods bowed their heads, Isis the most, this was in a big part her fault.

**_We stood on a wide avenue flanked by human-headed beasties,_**

The Gods who possessed animal heads stared blinking at an embarrassed Sadie while Ramses did his best to not show his dismay about his temple in Luxor being in the modern times nothing more then ruins.

**_most of which were broken._**

The ruler flinched again while the queen patted him on the back, somehow had Hatshepsut the feeling that she kind of got handed this role due to her being the only female in their small group and her motherly instincts would help her consoling the three men.

**_The road went on behind us as far as I could see, but in front of us it ended at a temple much bigger than the one in New York museum._**

**_The walls were at least six stories high. Big stone pharaohs stood guard on either side of the entrance, and a single obelisk stood on the left-hand side. _**

The small smile Ramses had on his face disappeared, there had not been only one obelisk standing there!

**_it looked as if one used to stand on the right as well, but it was now gone._**

"What?" Ramses asked in dismay, he could deal with it being broken, crumbled to dust, but not completely disappeared, what had been done to his work?!

"Erm…you will soon see." Carter told his ancestor who leaned back in his seat, his face pale.

"Unfortunately." he mumbled, he hated this part of his unplanned vacation into the future, the knowledge how that what they did for the ages crumbles to dust, but not through the hands of time and nature, but their own people.

_"_**_Luxor is a modern name," Zia said. "This was once the city of Thebes._**

"It had kind of been contemplated to rename it already in my time, but it got often put on hold." Ramses informed in a weak voice.

**_This temple was one of the most important in Egypt. It is the best place for us to practice."_**

"And also ironic." Amos whispered to Ruby and Julius both of whom nodded though the young soon-to-be-mother threw some worried glances at her ancestor who had now a weak smile on his lips. She really felt sorry for the four of the antique, they were faced with one painful information after another.

_"_**_Because it's already destroyed?" I asked._**

"Sorry." Sadie told her flinching ancestor who only waved his hand to indicate that it was fine.

**_Zia gave me one of her famous scowls._**

"I think it is cute when you do that." Carter whispered to her.

_"_**_No, Sadie—because it is still full of magic. And it was sacred to your family."_**

"Their family!" both Ramses and Narmer exclaimed as they sat up straighter in their seats while Ashkender looked over at Mrs. Faust and her daughter.

"This is from their mother's side and in some way from their father's side seeing how Lord Thoth had pointed out that there is a high chance that the blood of Neithotep's family was carried over into that of a new ruling dynasty." Ashkender pointed out at which both Ruby and her mother nodded, the later coming to terms with the fact that her daughter's marriage may have been fated and out of their control, while both Narmer and Ramses looked at each other, none of them had expected this development.

_"_**_Our family?" Carter asked._**

**_Zia didn't explain, as usual. She just gestured for us to follow._**

"We had not time to chat and I king of thought that you know at least a little something." Zia explained herself.

_"_**_I don't like those ugly sphinxes," I mumbled as we walked down the path._**

Both Sadie and Carter flinched knowing that Carter got into a close contact with one.

"You should not insult them, they have a temper and not only when you get their test wrong." Thoth warned.

"Most things in the mythological world have a temper." Julian pointed out.

"May be true, but some can dissolve it better, you will know that after meeting Hestia, Macaria, Harmonia, Iris and a small few others." Set put in while the others turned to him.

"Which Gods are those?" Carter asked the God, though it was Iskander who explained, having not talked about the Divinities of his other side much in the past.

"Lady Hestia is the oldest of the six siblings born to the Titan of Time Kronos and his wife the Titanes of female fertility, motherhood and generations. She is the Virgin Goddess of the heart, home and chastity, I think the name Harmonia is explaining enough regards that Goddess as for the other two mentioned Iris is the Goddess of the Rainbow and a divine messenger" at this younger Amos looked up as he remembered the talk between Set and Hades, he guessed that he had seen some of the power of that Goddess. "As for the last, Lady Macaria is the daughter of Hades the God of the Greek Underworld and his wife the Persephone the Goddess of Spring Growth, she is the Goddess of Blessed Death and guards the entrance to the Isle of the Blest which is for the souls of people who had three times after their death chosen reincarnation and all three times achieved Elysium, in other words paradise." he finished explaining as some looked at him with slightly widened eyes before turning to Set.

"Let us guess, you have meet the last Goddess rather often." Sadie said while the God gave her a grin.

"I did, also I had often talked to Iris seeing how she has a rather nice vegetarian shop, though I need to point out that she is more then pacifistic in her nature."

"Aha, Alyssa continue." Sadie replied after receiving her answer.

_"_**_Those ugly sphinxes are creatures of law and order," Zia said, "protectors of Egypt. They are on _****_our_****_ side."_**

"And depending on who controls them." Carter mumbled under his breath.

_"_**_If you say so."_**

**_Carter nudged me as we passed the obelisk. "You know the missing one is in Paris."_**

Ramses scowled at the new knowledge while Desjardins shifted in his seat.

**_I rolled my eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Wikipedia. I thought they were in New York and London."_**

_"_**_That's a different pair," Carter said, like I was supposed to care._**

"I care now." Sadie said while those of the antique wondered which obelisks those two could be.

_"_**_The other _****_Luxor_****_ obelisk is in Paris."_**

_"_**_Wish I was in Paris," I said. "Lot better than this place."_**

"I take that back now partially." Sadie said while Desjardins raised an eyebrow, he lived in Paris so what was the problem with the city?

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked her daughter.

"Next chapter." was the unnerving and mysterious reply which made those from the past nervous, well beside Desjardins who narrowed his eyes suspiciously, he had an unwelcome feeling that he will not like the next chapter rather much.

**_We walked into a dusty courtyard surrounded by crumbling pillars and statues with various missing body parts._**

Ramses flinched with each word, it did not help that he had been there only two days before being wisked of into the future.

**_Still, I could tell the place had once been quite impressive._**

"I certainly had been." Ramses whispered, it was a beautiful and grand place in his time filled with a flourish of life and not…_that_…

_"_**_Where are the people?" I asked. "Middle of the day, winter holidays. Shouldn't there be loads of tourists?"_**

**_Zia made a distasteful expression._**

Now also Sadie had a similar look on her face.

_"_**_Usually, yes. I have encouraged them to stay away for a few hours."_**

_"_**_How?"_**

_"_**_Common minds are easy to manipulate." _**

There were seveal nodds at this, while Mr. Faust looked annoyed, but saw it better not to comment.

**_She looked at me pointedly, and I remembered how she'd forced me to talk in the New York museum. Oh, yes, she was just _****_begging_****_ for more scorched eyebrows._**

Sadie gave Zia a sheepish smile while their parents shook their heads at their daughters.

"Do you think that Sadie's dislike for Zia may also come from the fact that she picked up on the fact that there could be in the future something between her and Carter?" Tawaret whispered to Thoth who looked thoughtful at this.

"I may be seeing that it is most of the time evident that females pick up on feelings of romance by others much faster then males and with her having deprived of spending much time with her brother she might have unconsciously gone on the defensive towards any rivals similar how brother's tend to react when their sisters start dating." he whispered back to her, this reading started to turn out as more informative then he would have thought, he would after switching books talk with Athena and ask for her experiences during their own reading session.

_"_**_Now, to the duel." She summoned her staff and drew two circles in the sand about ten meters apart. She directed me to stand in one of them and Carter in the other._**

_"_**_I've got to duel _****_him_****_?" I asked._**

"I was not exactly happy about the idea." Sadie said with Carter nodding, he also had not liked the idea that she should duel his sister.

"Hopefully it ended better then the one between your father and uncle." Desjardins said while pinching the bridge of his nose as Ruby nodded, they had been the ones who needed to gather the two together after it was over.

"What happened?" the siblings asked seeing that neither age set of the two men looked about to answer and the two of their time got even slightly consoled by their respective Gods.

"Let's just say that it ended with both learning to know how the healers ward looked from the inside for two days." Ruby elaborated while her children exchanged glances with each other.

"Uhm…neither of us ended up in the healing ward." they answered, sure Carter got hurt, but that got fixed rather fast.

"That is good to hear." Ruby answered so she missed the small flinch indicating that there still were some injuries.

**_I found the idea preposterous. The only thing Carter had shown aptitude for was summoning butter knives and pooping birds._**

Everyone turned to Sadie who motioned for Alyssa to continue.

**_Well, all right, and that bit on the chasm bridge deflecting the daggers, but still—what if I hurt him? As annoying as Carter might be, I didn't want to accidentally summon that glyph I'd made in Amos's house and explode him to bits._**

"I would appreciate of you not blowing my Eye up." Horus told Sadie while Carter rolled his eyes, but was still happy about what Horus said.

"We also agree." younger Julius said, just his luck that his daughter will be good with the ha-di spell.

**_Perhaps Carter was thinking the same thing, because he'd started to sweat. "_**

"I did." he confirmed, those had been not pleasant images which had filled his head.

**_What if we do something wrong?" he asked._**

_"_**_I will oversee the duel," Zia promised._**

"Though no matter the circles, keep your wand ready." Desjardins said while throwing a glare at Julius.

"What happened?" Carter asked in confusion as he saw both versions of his father flinch.

"A spell kind of got side tracked." younger Amos elaborated while those of the present nodded.

"Dad certainly made the wrong impressions of Desjardins as they meet." Carter whispered to Sadie, Walt and Zia.

"And another ground why he was acting the way with us he did." Sadie replied back.

**_"We will start slowly. The first magician to knock the other out of his or her circle wins."_**

"Yes you two, knocking out of the circle and not knocking out enough for medical attention." Ruby scolded the brothers sitting with her while their older versions did their best to not look at the two Gods they hosted.

_"_**_But we haven't been trained!" I protested._**

_"_**_One learns by doing," Zia said. "This is not school, Sadie. You cannot learn magic by sitting at a desk and taking notes. You can only learn magic by doing magic."_**

There were many agreeing nods at this while Set looked amused at the thought of how the people in Hecate's pet-world would react to this statement, but as the Goddess herself had said their magic is weak compared to that of the powers of the demigods and the Egyptian magicians, mostly that they use their wands for both defence and offence and are lost without it except a decreasing few.

_"_**_But—"_**

_"_**_Summon whatever power you can," Zia said. "Use whatever you have available. Begin!"_**

"We certainly did." the siblings said while doing their best to not groan.

"Why do I have the feeling that no matter if they don't land themselves by the healers that something will go wrong and I'm not talking about the passing of the Chief Lector." the last part was hard to say for Amos as he leaned closer to his brother and sister-in-law both nodding their heads while looking nervous.

**_I looked at Carter doubtfully. _****_Use whatever I have?_****_ I opened the leather satchel and looked inside. A lump of wax? Probably not. I drew the wand and rod. Immediately, the rod expanded until I was holding a two-meter-long white staff._**

**_Carter drew his sword, though I couldn't imagine what he'd do with it. Rather hard to hit me from ten meters away._**

"Well, there are ways how that…"

"Thoth, long explainings for another time." Isis told the other God who scowled about the fact that he was interrupted.

**_I wanted this over, so I raised my staff like I'd seen Zia do. I thought the word _****_Fire_****_._**

Sadie heard her parents groaning.

**_A small flame sputtered to life on the end of the staff. I willed it to get bigger. The fire momentarily brightened, but then my eyesight went fuzzy. The flame died. I fell to my knees, feeling as if I'd run a marathon._**

"You drew from yourself instead of the staff." Ruby said worriedly.

"I'm fine mom." Sadie reassured her.

_"_**_You okay?" Carter called._**

_"_**_No," I complained._**

_"_**_If she knocks herself out, do I win?" he asked._**

_"_**_Shut up!" I said._**

"I was checking the level of your exhaustion." Carter told his sister who did the mature thing and pointed her tongue at him while the others looked amused at the exchange.

_"_**_Sadie, you must be careful," Zia called. "You drew magic from your own reserves, not from the staff. You can quickly deplete your magic."_**

**_I got shakily to my feet. "Explain?"_**

_"_**_A magician begins a duel full of magic, the way you might be full after a good meal—"_**

_"_**_Which I never got," I reminded her._**

There were a few snickers at Sadie's comment.

_"_**_Each time you do magic," Zia continued, "you expend energy. You can draw energy from _****_yourself_****_, but you must know your limits. Otherwise you could exhaust yourself, or worse."_**

**_I swallowed and looked at my smoldering staff. "How much worse?"_**

_"_**_You could literally burn up."_**

The magicians looked down gravely while Mr. Faust felt his jaw drop, Margaret never informed him that if magic gets overdone then this could happen to their daughter so he did not see the pained expressions on the faces of those from the present or how they did their best to not look in Ruby's direction.

**_I hesitated, thinking how to ask my next question without saying too much. "But I've done magic before. Sometimes it doesn't exhaust me. Why?"_**

**_From around her neck, Zia unclasped an amulet. She threw it in the air, and with a flash it turned into a giant vulture._**

Rachel looked over to the thrones at the Goddess dressed in blue who gave her a small smile.

**_The massive back bird soared over the ruins. As soon as it was out of sight, Zia extended her hand and the amulet appeared in her palm._**

_"_**_Magic can be drawn from many sources," she said. "It can be stored in scrolls, wands, or staffs. Amulets are especially powerful._**

All of the magicians gently touched their amulets, mostly the hosts whose amulets represented the God they follow which on the other hand made said divinities smile at them in return.

**_Magic can also be drawn straight from Ma'at, using the Divine Words, but this is difficult. Or"—she locked eyes with me—"it can be summoned from the gods."_**

All present host nodded their heads, they also knew that even in such case one needed to keep a good eye on how much energy one borrows from their partner or it could end bad if one of them is not paying attention.

_"_**_Why are you looking at me?" I demanded. "_****_I_****_ didn't summon any gods. They just seem to _****_find_****_ me!"_**

"Which seems to be certainly true as these books prove." Sadie said while Anubis squirmed in his throne.

**_She put on her necklace but said nothing._**

_"_**_Hold on," Carter said. "You claimed this place was sacred to our family."_**

"That had been the time I started putting the pieces together." Carter informed everyone.

_"_**_It was," Zia agreed._**

_"_**_But wasn't this..." Carter frowned. "Didn't the pharaohs have a yearly festival here or something?"_**

_"_**_Indeed," she said. "The pharaoh would walk down the processional path all the way from Karnak to Luxor. _**

Those from the antique nodded their heads in confirmation, it may be a long way, but it was tradition.

**_He would enter the temple and become one with the gods. Sometimes, this was purely ceremonial. Sometimes, with the great pharaohs like Ramses, here—"_**

At this looked said Pharaoh up questioningly, he may have had contact with Lord Osiris, Ptah, Thoth and a few times even with Ladies Hathor and Isis, but he was sure that he had been not a host till now.

"On occasions Osiris, but most of the time me." Horus told the man who nodded his head wondering how his father Seti would have felt about this news, would have probably taken him to the side for another long talk like after that incident with his sisters.

**_Zia pointed to one of the huge crumbling statues._**

And now was he back to winching.

_"_**_They actually hosted the gods," I interrupted, remembering what Iskander said._**

"I should have not commented." Sadie said with a groan.

"It certainly made me suspicious and you did not explain from where you have got the information." Zia told her, but was not sure how she would have felt at that time if Sadie had told her.

**_Zia narrowed her eyes. "And yet you claim to know nothing of your family's past."_**

_"_**_Wait a second," Carter protested. "You're saying we're related to—"_**

"It kind of had been a shocking revelation." Carter admitted while his parents smiled at him, they could imagine.

_"_**_The gods choose their hosts carefully," Zia said. "They always prefer blood of the pharaohs._**

The Gods nodded their heads in confirmation those from the royal blood lines had better chances to be able to host them then most of the others and contraire to popular belief they did not enjoy seeing their host's soul burning out, that would be Apophis.

**_When a magician has the blood of _****_two_****_ royal families..."_**

**_I exchanged looks with Carter. Something Bast said came back to me: "Your family was born to magic." And Amos had told us that both sides of our family had a complicated history with the gods, and that Carter and I were the most powerful children to be born in centuries. _**

The initiates nodded thier heads, the two siblings were certainly powerful while both Horus and Isis beamed at their blushing Eyes.

**_A bad feeling settled over me, like an itchy blanket prickling against my skin._**

_"_**_Our parents were from different royal lines," I said. _**

"Which were still connected in a way as it turns out." Hatshepsut said while looking at both Ramses and Narmer who were again looking at each other.

**_"Dad... he must've been descended from Narmer, the first pharaoh. I told you he looked like that picture!"_**

_"_**_That's not possible," Carter said. "That was five thousand years ago." But I could see his mind was racing. "Then the Fausts..." He turned to Zia. "Ramesses the Great built this courtyard. You're telling me our mom's family is descended from him?"_**

"We certainly are." replied both Ruby and her mother with a nod of their heads while Narmer finally took his time to look the blonde woman over more carefully, noting that she really did share some features with his wife.

**_Zia sighed. "Don't tell me your parents kept this from you._**

Older Julius fidgeted somewhat in his throne while Osiris patted him again on the back in an attempt of reassurance.

**_Why do you think you are so dangerous to us?"_**

"Or anyone they see as enemy." Sean said grinning together with the other initiates which made the duo blush again.

_"_**_You think we're hosting gods," I said, absolutely stunned._**

"In the end we kind of did." Carter said sheepishly while looking over at Horus.

**_"That's what you're worried about—just because of something our great-times-a-thousand grandparents did? That's completely daft."_**

"As said we did not know at that time that we had them." Sadie added in while looking over at Isis.

_"_**_Then prove it!" Zia said. "Duel, and show me how weak your magic is!"_**

"And that failed." Carter said as he remembered what will come in a few minutes.

**_She turned her back on us, as if we were completely unimportant._**

"I did not want to be confirmed that you were really hosts." Zia said sighing, she wanted to pretend at that time that they were mistaken and she would have people with her closer in age, people who could be her friends, but that needed to wait before it happened.

"It is fine Zia, everything turned out alright in the end." Carter reassured her while the Rashids gave him thankful smiles that he was there for their daughter.

**_Something inside me snapped._**

Sadie groaned while burying her head in Walt's shirt.

"I was such a childish idiot back then." she mumbled while some looked nervous abut what she did.

**_I'd had the worst two days ever. I'd lost my father, my home, and my cat, been attacked by monsters and had ice water dumped on my head. Now this _****_witch_****_ was turning her back on me. She didn't want to train us._**

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…" Sadie repeated her mantra while Walt patted her on the back, there was not much he could do and saying that it was not her fault would be a lie.

**_She wanted to see how dangerous we were. _**

Now Ruby also started mumbling something, but it was more along the lines of cursing her own inheritable temper.

**_Well, fine._**

There were several groans at this, they just knew that this will not end well.

_"_**_Um, Sadie?" Carter called. He must've seen from my expression that I was beyond reason._**

"I certainly did and was contemplating if I should grab Zia and run or try reasoning with you." he informed his sister who gave him an apologetic smile, the upcoming disaster had been her fault.

**_I focused on my staff. _****_Maybe not fire. Cats have always liked me._**

"Seeing how their Mistress was your babysitter they would have been fools not to." Set informed the blonde who nodded.

**_Maybe..._**

**_I threw my staff straight at Zia. It hit the ground at her heels and immediately transformed into a snarling she-lion. Zia whirled in surprise, but then everything went wrong._**

**_The lion turned and charged at Carter, as if she knew I was supposed to be dueling him._**

Sadie looked apologetically at her brother while their parents paled.

"Those circles are not there for decoration." Desjardins informed the girl who nodded her head, she knew that now.

**_I had a split second to think: _****_What have I done?_**

This was the time when Sadie returned to her earlier mantra.

**_Then the cat lunged... and Carter's form flickered._**

"I noticed that we were being attacked." Horus told them, he had paid not much attention after the entered the library and only noticed that they had changed places when hearing the lioness's growl. He had been kind of perplexed about how he had missed the fact that they were in a duel and not writing on papyrus anymore.

"Thanks." Carter told the God, he had not much against cats, but would not like to end up as Friskies.

**_He rose off the ground, surrounded by a golden holographic shell like the one Bast had used, except that his giant image was a warrior with the head of a falcon. Carter swung his sword, and the falcon warrior did likewise, slicing the lion with the shimmering blade of energy. The cat dissolved in midair, and my staff clattered to the ground, cut neatly in half._**

**_Carter's avatar shimmered, then disappeared. He dropped to the ground and grinned. "Fun."_**

"For you, I nearly got a heart attack and a confirmation that you host a God or at least follow the Path of one then in any other way is it impossible for a magician to call up the avatar of a divinity which uses combat magic." Zia told her boyfriend who pulled her close, he knew that now will come the hard part for her.

"Wonderful prospects." Ruby mumbled and they still had plenty of chapters and two more books to go.

**_He didn't even look tired. Once I got over my relief that I hadn't killed him, I realized I didn't feel tired either. If anything, I had _****_more_****_ energy._**

The siblings turned over to their Gods, they now knew why that was.

**_I turned defiantly to Zia. "Well? Better, right?"_**

**_Her face was ashen. "The falcon. He—he summoned—"_**

"As said no magician not in contact with a God could have summoned an avatar to protect them." Zia repeated her earlier statement.

**_Before she could finish, footsteps pounded on the stones. A young initiate raced into the courtyard, looking panicked. Tears streaked his dusty face. He said something to Zia in hurried Arabic._**

Carter pulled Zia even closer to himself while everyone bowed their heads; they knew what was being said… Chief Lector Iskander had stepped into the Halls of Judgement waiting for his heart to be judged.

**_When Zia got his message, she sat down hard in the sand. She covered her face and began to tremble. Carter and I left our dueling circles and ran to her._**

Both set of parents looked up, one in thankfulness the other pair in pride.

_"_**_Zia?" Carter said. "What's wrong?"_**

**_She took a deep breath, trying to gather her composure. When she looked up, her eyes were red. She said something to the adept,_**

"I sent him back to the First." she said softly while fighting her tears again.

**_who nodded and ran back the way he'd come._**

_"_**_News from the First Nome," she said shakily. "Iskander..." Her voice broke._**

**_I felt as if a giant fist had punched me in the stomach. I thought about Iskander's strange words last night: _****_It seems I, too, can rest at least_****_. _**

The old Chief Lector nodded his head, he did not like hearing about the pain he had caused, but knew that he had lived long enough, as he had already told Michel, it was time to let go, no matter how painful it may be.

**_"He's dead, isn't he? That's what he meant."_**

**_Zia stared at me. "What do you mean: 'That's what he meant'?"_**

_"_**_I..." I was about to say that I'd spoken with Iskander the night before. Then I realized this might not be a good thing to mention._**

"It certainly would have." Zia admitted, it hurt to hear how he knew about his passing and at that time when the pain was still fresh it would have been only worse.

_"_**_Nothing. How did it happen?"_**

_"_**_In his sleep," Zia said._**

Iskander nodded, yes, he had followed the call of the two brothers for falling asleep and dying the way it is natural are similar in their aspects.

**_"He—he had been ailing for years, of course. But still..."_**

_"_**_It's okay," Carter said. "I know he was important to you."_**

**_She wiped at her tears, then rose unsteadily. "You don't understand. Desjardins is next in line. _**

Said man did not feel any pride in that knowledge, even if it would not involve Julius's children, he would take his Master's passing terribly.

**_As soon as he is named Chief Lector, he will order you executed."_**

Ruby flinched, but did not glare or say anything because her children were still here and beside the fact that this had not happened till now in their time she remembered the strange way her children had defended Desjardins and the way everyone from the present seemed to look at him in occasions…it was a look of sadness. She had a bad feeling regards all of this, mostly that while speaking about the House no one even mentioned his name even thought he must be the current Chief Lector except if…she did not dare continue that thought, but it would explain some things which made her feel cold.

_"_**_But we haven't done anything!" I said._**

"It won't matter to me and the fact that the Master passed on the night you were brought to the First, I will be even harder to reason with." Desjardins spoke up in a pained tone while the siblings nodded their heads, they understood his rezoning.

**_Zia's eyes flashed with anger. "You still don't realize how dangerous you are? You are hosting gods."_**

_"_**_Ridiculous," I insisted, but an uneasy feeling was building inside me. If it were true... no, it couldn't be! Besides, how could anyone, even a poxy old nutter like Desjardins, _**

Desjardins stared gapping at the blonde while both Juliuses groaned as Sadie help up her hands in apology.

**_seriously execute children for something they weren't even aware of?_**

_"_**_He will order me to bring you in," Zia warned, "and I will have to obey."_**

_"_**_You can't!" Carter cried. "You _****_saw_****_ what happened in the museum. We're not the problem. Set is._**

"Only in part." Amos corrected his nephew while Set stopped pouting and looked at her Eye with a small smile.

"What do you mean?" younger Julius asked, a part of him was still perplexed about the fact how good his brother gets along with the Chaos God while also being thankful that their parents were not here, he feared that his father would have some unwelcome comments towards his youngest son and in the worst case also his unborn grandchild and he was not sure if by the later Amos would even _try _holding Set back.

**_And if Desjardins isn't taking that seriously... well, maybe he's part of the problem, too."_**

Said magician huffed in indignation, but knew that he could not argue in the light of the facts.

**_Zia gripped her staff. I was sure she was going to fry us with a fireball, but she hesitated._**

"I was lost about what to do." Zia admitted, it had been hard, her pain, loyalties, all that she had learned and the new feelings, they had all clashed together like the Red Sea at Musa's command.

_"_**_Zia." I decided to take a risk. "Iskandar talked with me last night. He caught me sneaking around the Hall of Ages."_**

**_She looked at me in shock. I reckoned I had only seconds before that shock turned to anger._**

Zia nodded her head in confirmation.

_"_**_He said you were his best pupil," I recalled. "He said you were wise. He also said Carter and I have a difficult path ahead of us, and you would know how to help us when the time came."_**

"And you certainly did." Carter told his girlfriend who gave him a soft smile.

**_He staff smoldered. Her eyes reminded me of glass about to shatter._**

"You did not exactly help my confusion." Zia informed Sadie while their parents watched their children with sad eyes, because neither of them was there to help guide them.

_"_**_Desjardins will kill us,"_**

Said man did not deny, though he felt grateful when Amos placed his and on his arm in reassurance that if they remember all of this that things will be different.

**_I persisted. "Do you think that's what Iskander had in mind?"_**

**_I counted to five, six, seven. Just when I was sure she was going to blast us, she lowered her staff. "Use the obelisk."_**

Ruby looked gratefully at the young woman who smiled back at her.

_"_**_What?" I asked._**

_"_**_The obelisk in the entrance, fool! You have five minutes, perhaps less, before Desjardins sends orders for your execution. Flee, and destroy Set._**

"Luckily they did not go through with the last part of my sentence." Zia said as she smiled at the God, Lord Ra would have been terribly upset with the loss of his adopted son.

**_The Demon Days begin at sundown. All portals will stop working. You need to get as close as possible to Set before that happens."_**

_"_**_Hold on," I said. "I meant you should come with us and help us!_**

"At that time it was not in my power." Zia said, it had not even been truly her at that time when this happened even thought the memories the shabti sent to her made it feel like that.

**_We can't even use an obelisk, much less destroy Set!"_**

"Now the first part is easy and we don't plan on doing the second." Sadie said grinning, mostly not now that it would upset not only Ra and Bast, but also her uncle and soon-to-be-born cousin.

_"_**_I cannot betray the House," she said. "You have four minutes now. If you can't operate the obelisk, you'll die."_**

**_That was enough incentive for me. I started to drag Carter off, but Zia called: "Sadie?"_**

**_When I looked back, Zia's eyes were full of bitterness._**

_"_**_Desjardins will order me to hunt you down," she warned. "Do you understand?"_**

**_Unfortunately, I did. The next time we met, we would be enemies._**

"Though we overcome the troubles in the end." Sadie said, she was glad that Zia would not be her enemy anymore, she liked her better as a type of older sister.

"That is true." Zia replied back with a smile.

**_I grabbed Carter's hand and ran._**

"Shelby, your turn." Alyssa told her friend and handed the book over.

"Ok, the next chapter is **_A Bad Trip to Paris_**_._" she read and Desjardins was suddenly reminded on the bad feeling he had not long ago.

**_Okay, before I get to the demon fruit bats,_**

"Demon what?" come many confused questions when suddenly Desjardins let out a strange sound before narrowing his eyes at the sheepishly grinning siblings.

"You two were in my house." he said with narrowed eyes.

"Wonderful." younger Julius groaned at the news while his older self asked Osiris to take over for him till the children are out of Paris.

"Shel." Sean nudged the girl who nodded and started reading before an argument breaks out.

**_I should back up._**

**_The night before we fled Luxor, I didn't get much sleep—_**

Carter flinched, here it comes…

_To be continued…_


End file.
